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LIBRARY

UNIVERSITY*
CALIFORNIA

SAN DIEGO

Photograph by] [ <K. and D. Downey.

The Right Hon. Cecil John Rhodes.

THE

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT

CECIL JOHN RHODES

WITH ELUCIDATORY NOTES

TO WHICH ARE ADDED
SOME CHAPTERS DESCRIBING THE

POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS
OF THE TESTATOR

EDITED BY VV. T. STEAD

LONDON

"REVIEW OF REVIEWS" OFFICE

NORFOLK STREET, W.C.

1902

LONDON I

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
DUKE STREET, STAMFORD STREET, S.E., AND GREAT WINDMILL STREET, W.

PREFATORY NOTE.

THE interest excited by the publication in the
daily papers of the last Will and Testament of
Cecil John Rhodes justifies and explains the
appearance of this volume.

For the marginal and foot notes, as well as
for the chapters describing the political and
religious ideas of Mr. Rhodes, no one is
responsible but

THE EDITOR.

June 4?/i, 1902.

CONTENTS.

FRONTISPIECE : THE RIGHT HON. CECIL JOHN RHODES.
PREFATORY NOTE.

PAGE

TART I. — THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT . . 3

PART II. — THE POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF

MR. RHODES . . . . 51

CHAPTER I. — His WRITINGS • • 55

„ II. — -His CONVERSATIONS . . 79

„ III. — His CORRESPONDENCE. . 117

., IV. — His SPEECHES . . . 139

PART III. — THE CLOSING SCENE . . . 177

INDEX ......... 193

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

FRONTISPIECE : THE RIGHT HON. CECIL JOHN RHODES.

PART I.

PAGE

MR. RHODES'S BURIAL PLACE: THE SUMMIT OF "WORLD'S

VIEW" .2

MR. RHODES'S WESTACRE FARM IN THE MATOPPOS ... 6

THE INYANGA FARM 8

GROOTE SCHUUR ......... 10

APPROACH TO GROOTE SCHUUR 12

OTHER VIEWS OF THE RESIDENCE 14-37

PORTRAIT OF MR. RHODES : BY E. TENNYSON-COLE . . 26

ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD 31

PORTRAIT OF MR. B. F. HAWKSLEY 41

PORTRAIT OF MR. W. T. STEAD ... 42

DALHAM HALL 48

PART II.

CECIL RHODES (A SKETCH BY THE MARCHIONESS OF GRANBY). 50

PORTRAIT OF LORD ROSEBERY 53

MR. RHODES STUDYING THE MAP OF AFRICA .... 54

CHAPTER I. — PORTRAIT OF LORD MILNER .... 57

PORTRAIT OF EARL GREY .... 60

PORTRAIT OF MR. A. BEIT .... 65

PORTRAIT OF MR. L. L. MICHELL ... 67

PORTRAIT OF DR. JAMESON .... 75

CHAPTER II. — PORTRAIT OF MR. RHODES AS A BOY . . 78

HOUSE IN WHICH MR. RHODES WAS BORN . 87

PORTRAITS OF MR. AND MRS. MAGUIRE . . 92

PORTRAIT OF MR. F. E. GARRETT . no

x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PART II.— continued. PAGE

CHAPTER III. — PORTRAIT OF MR. RHODES . . . .116

PORTRAIT OF MR. C. D. RUDD . . . 119

PORTRAITS OF DR. JAMESON AND MR. BOVD . 123

PORTRAIT OF SIR HARRY JOHNSTON . . 127

PORTRAIT OF MR. RHODES IN 1899 . . . 138

CHAPTER IV.— A CHARACTERISTIC PORTRAIT OF MR. RHODES 141

PORTRAIT OF DR. RUTHERFOORD HARRIS . 146

PORTRAIT OF MR. HAYS HAMMOND. . .156

PART III.

THE LAST PORTRAIT OF MR. RHODES 176

THE COTTAGE AT MUIZENBEKG, WHERE MR. RHODES DIED . 179

THE LYING IN STATE . 182

FU.NERAL PROCESSION STARTING FROM BULAWAYO . . 182

EXCAVATING MR. RHODES'S TOMB ... . 186

LOWERING THE COFFIN INTO THE GRAVE . . . -191

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
OF CECIL JOHN RHODES.

PART I.

THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.

THE sixth and last Will and Testament of
Cecil John Rhodes is dated July ist, 1899. To
this are appended various codicils, the last of
which was dated March, 1902, when he was on
his deathbed.

The full text of the Will and its Codicils will
only be published when the Will is proved in
South Africa.

The following are the substantive passages of
the Will so far as they have as yet been given to
the public.

The Will begins :—

I am a natural-born British subject and I now
declare that I have adopted and acquired and
hereby adopt and acquire and intend to retain
Rhodesia as my domicile (a).

(i.) His Burial Place in the Matoppos.

I admire the grandeur and loneliness of the His last rest-
Matoppos in Rhodesia and therefore I desire to in£ Place-

(a) Being thus domiciled in Rhodesia his estate is not
subject to the death duties levied on those domiciled in
England.

THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

The Shan
gani monu-
ment.

be buried in the Matoppos (b) on the hill which I
used to visit and which I called the " View of the
World " in a square to be cut in the rock on the
top of the hill covered with a plain brass plate
with these words thereon — " Here lie the remains
of Cecil John Rhodes " and accordingly I direct
my Executors at the expense of my estate to take
all steps and do all things necessary or proper to
give effect to this my desire and afterwards to keep
my grave in order at the expense of the Matoppos
and Bulawayo Fund hereinafter mentioned.

I direct my Trustees on the hill aforesaid
to erect or complete the monument to the men
who fell in the first Matabele War at Shangani
in Rhodesia the bas-reliefs for which are being
made by Mr. John Tweed and I desire the said

(I)) Mr. Bertram Mitford says : — " For grim, gloomy savagery
of solitude it is probable that the stupendous rock wilderness
known as the Matoppo Hills is unsurpassed throughout earth's
surface. Strictly speaking, the term 'hills' scarcely applies
to this marvellous range, which is rather an expanse of granite
rocks extending some seventy or eighty miles by forty or fifty,
piled in titanic proportions and bizarre confusion, over what
would otherwise be a gently undulating surface, forming a kind
of island as it were, surrounded by beautiful rolling country,
green, smiling, and in parts thickly bushed. High on the out-
side ridge of this remarkable range, about twenty miles distant
from Bulawayo, towards which it faces, there rises a pile of
granite boulders, huge, solid, compact. It is a natural
structure ; an imposing and dominating one withal, and
appropriately so, for this is the sepulchre of the warrior King
Umzilikazi, founder and first monarch of the Matabele nation."
Rhodesia says : — " It would appear, according to the dis-
covery of a Native Commissioner, that the hill on the summit
of which the remains of Cecil Rhodes have been laid is known
in the vernacular as ' Malindid/imo.1 The literal translation
of this is given as ' The Home of the Spirit of My Forefathers,'
or, without straining the meaning unduly, ' The Home of tie
Guardian Spirit.' It does not appear that Mr. Rhodes was
aware of this rendering when he expressed a desire to be
buried on that spot after his race was run."

HIS PROPERTY IN RHODESIA. 5

hill to be preserved as a burial-place (c) but no
person is to be buried there unless the Govern-
ment for the time being of Rhodesia until the
various states of South Africa or any of them
shall have been federated and after such federa-
tion the Federal Government by a vote of two-
thirds of its governing body says that he or
she has deserved well of his or her country.

(2.) His Property in Rhodesia.

I give free of all duty whatsoever my landed The Bula-
property near Bulawayo in Matabeleland Rhodesia ™**°n aand
and my landed property at or near Inyanga Estates.
near Salisbury in Mashonaland Rhodesia to my
Trustees hereinbefore named Upon trust that
my Trustees shall in such manner as in their
uncontrolled discretion they shall think fit culti-
vate the same respectively for the instruction of
the people of Rhodesia.

I give free of all duty whatsoever to my The Matop-
Trustees hereinbefore named such a sum of Pos! and

i i 11 r 11 • i • Bulawayo

money as they shall carefully ascertain and in Fund,
their uncontrolled discretion consider ample and
sufficient by its investments to yield income
amounting to the sum of ,£4,000 sterling per
annum and not less and I direct my Trustees
to invest the same sum and the said sum and

(c) A lady writing over the initials " S. C. S." in the
Westminster Gazette says: — "Very beautiful is a little story
which I once heard told of Mr. Rhodes by Mr. G. Wyndham.
Beautiful, because it contains the simple expression of a great
thought, said quite simply, and without any desire to produce
effect, in private to a friend. Mr. Wyndham told how, during
his last visit to Africa, they rode together on to the summit of
a hill in the Matoppos, which commanded a view of fifty miles
in every direction. Circling his hands about the horizon, Mr.
Rhodes said, ' Homes, more homes; that is what I work for.' "

ex
o

•s

HIS PROPERTY IN RHODESIA. 7

the investments for the time being representing
it I hereinafter refer to as " the Matoppos and
Bulawayo fund " And I direct that my Trustees
shall for ever apply in such manner as in their
uncontrolled discretion they shall think fit the
income of the Matoppos and Bulawayo Fund in
preserving protecting maintaining adorning and
beautifying the said burial-place and hill and their
surroundings and shall for ever apply in such
manner as in their uncontrolled discretion they
shall think fit the balance of the income of the
Matoppos and Bulawayo Fund and any rents
and profits of my said landed properties near
Bulawayo in the cultivation as aforesaid of such
property And in particular I direct my Trustees
that a portion of my Sauerdale property a part
of my said landed property near Bulawayo be
planted with every possible tree and be made
and preserved and maintained as a Park for the
people of Bulawayo and that they complete the
dam (d] at my Westacre property if it is not Westacre

Park, its

(d) A Daily Telegraph correspondent, writing from Bulawayo a

on Oct. 14, 1901, gives the following account of the dam
referred to in the will : — " Mr. Rhodes's Matoppo Dam is to
be used in connection with the irrigation of a portion of his
farm near Bulawayo. This farm is situated on the northern
edge of the Matoppos, eighteen miles from Bulawayo, and
through it runs the valley of a tributary from the Malima
River. This tributary is dry eight months in the yeir, and the
land around consequently parched. Mr. Rhodes has built a
huge earthwork wall to dam the tributary. The work was
commenced in May, 1899. It will render possible the
cultivation of some 2,000 to 3,000 acres of the most fertile soil.
The total cost up to date has been something under ^30,000.
The total capacity of the reservoir is 900,000,000 gallons. A
small body of water was conserved last season, and fifty acres
of lucerne planted as a commencement. It is doing extremely
well under irrigation. The site of the works, the northern
edge of the Matoppos, is very picturesque. The green lucerne
makes a delightful contrast against the dull and hazy browns

HIS PROPERTY IN RHODESIA. 9

completed at my death and make a short railway
line from Bulawayo to Westacre so that the
people of Bulawayo may enjoy the glory of the
Matoppos from Saturday to Monday.

I give free of all duty whatsoever to my Theinyanga
Trustees hereinbefore named such a sum of Fund-
money as they shall carefully ascertain and in
their uncontrolled discretion consider ample and
sufficient by its investments to yield income
amounting to the sum of ,£2,000 sterling per
annum and not less and I direct my Trustees to
invest the same sum and the said sum and the
investments for the time being representing it I
hereinafter refer to as "the Inyanga Fund."
And I direct that my Trustees shall for ever
apply in such manner as in their absolute dis-
cretion they shall think fit the income of the
Inyanga Fund and any rents and profits of my
said landed property at or near Inyanga (e) in

of the surrounding country which prevail during the dry season.
An hotel has been built on some rising ground overlooking
the dam, and it is expected that it will be very popular as a
holiday resort for the youth and beauty of Bulawayo — become,
in fact, the African replica of the famous Star and Garter at
Richmond."

(e) Mr. Seymour Fort, writing in the Empire Review for May,
1902, says : — " Apart from his position as managing director of
the British South Africa Company, Mr. Rhodes is one of the
chief pioneer agriculturists in Rhodesia, and has spared neither
brain nor capital in endeavouring to develop the resources of
its soil. In Manicaland he owns a block of farms on the
high Inyanga plateau, some 80,000 acres in extent, where on
the open grass country he is breeding cattle and horses, while
a certain portion is fenced and placed under cultivation.
Great things are expected from these horse-breeding experi-
ments, as the Inyanga hills are so far free from the horse-
sickness so prevalent in other parts of South Africa. This
plateau forms a succession of downs at an elevation of some
6,000 feet above the sea. The soil is alluvial, of rich red
colour and capable of growing every form of produce, and by

B 2

GROOTE SCHUUR.

1 1

the cultivation of such property and in particular Irrigation.
I direct that with regard to such property irri-
gation should be the first object of my Trustees.

For the guidance of my Trustees I wish to An Agricul-
record that in the cultivation of my said landed l
properties I include such things as experimental
farming, forestry, market and other gardening and
fruit farming, irrigation and the teaching of any
of those things and establishing and maintaining
an Agricultural College.

(3.) Groote Schuur.

I give my property following that is to say
my residence known as " De Groote Schuur" (_/)

House and
furniture.

merely scratching the surface the natives raise crops of mealies
and other cereals superior to those grown elsewhere in Manica-
land. It is an old saying in South Africa that you find no
good veldt without finding Dutchmen, and several Transvaal
Boers have settled in the neighbourhood. English fruit trees
flourish, and Mr. Rhodes has laid out orchards in which the
orange, apple, and pear trees (now five years old) have borne
well. Very interesting also are the evidences of an old and
practically unknown civilisation — the ancient ruins, the mathe-
matically constructed water-courses and old gold workings
which are to be seen side by side with the trans-African
telegraph to Blantyre and Cairo which runs through the
property, and connects Tete with the Zambesi."

(/) Mr. Garrett, writing in the Pall Mall Magazine for May,
1902, says: — "If you would see Rhodes on his most winning
side, you would seek it at Groote Schuur. It lies behind the
Devil Peak, which is a flank buttressed by the great bastion of
rock that is called Table Mountain. The house lies low^
nestling cosily among oaks. It was built in accordance with
Mr. Rhodes's orders to keep it simple — beams and whitewash.
It was originally thatched, but ii was burnt down at the end
of 1896. and everything was gutted but one wing. From the
deep-pillared window where Mr. Rhodes mostly sat, and the
little formal garden, the view leads up to a grassy slope and
over woodland away to the crest of the buttressed peak and
the great purple precipices of Table Mountain. Through the
open park la.nd and wild wood koodoos, gnus, elands, and

Approach to Groote Schuur.

GROOTE SCHUUR. 13

situate near Mowbray in the Cape Division in the
said Colony together with all furniture plate and
other articles contained therein at the time of my
death and all other land belonging to me situated
under Table Mountain including my property
known as "Mosterts" to my Trustees herein- Mosterts.
before named upon and subject to the conditions
following (that is to say) : —

(i.) The said property (excepting any Conditions.
furniture or like articles which have become
useless) shall not nor shall any portion thereof
at any time be sold let or otherwise alienated,
(ii.) No buildings for suburban residences
shall at any time be erected on the said
property and any buildings which may be
erected thereon shall be used exclusively for
public purposes and shall be in a style of
architecture similar to or in harmony with
my said residence.

(iii.) The said residence and its gardens Residence of
and grounds shall be retained for a residence premier.
for the Prime Minister for the time being of
the said Federal Government of the States

other African animals wander at will. Only the savage beasts
are confined in enclosures. No place of the kind is so freely,
so recklessly shared with the public. The estate became the
holiday resort of the Cape Town masses ; but it is to be
regretted that some of the visitors abused their privileges —
maimed and butchered rare and valuable beasts, and careless
picknickers have caused great havoc in the woods by fire.
Sometimes the visitors treat the house itself as a free
museum, and are found wandering into Mr. Rhodes's own
rooms or composedly reading in his library. Brown people
from the slums of Cape Town fill the pinafores of their
children with flowers plucked in his garden, and wander round
the house as if it were their own. The favourite rendezvous
in the ground was the lion-house, a classical lion-pit in which
the tawny form of the king of beasts could be caught sight of
between marble columns."

16 THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

of South Africa to which I have referred in
clause 6 hereof my intention being to provide
a suitable official residence for the First
Minister in that Government befitting the
dignity of his position and until there shall
be such a Federal Government may be used
as a park for the people (g}.

(g) Writing in the Times on the artistic side of Mr. Rhodes,
Mr. Herbert Baker, his architect, says : — " Artistic problems
first presented themselves to his mind when, as Premier of
Cape Colony, he made his home in the Cape Peninsula. His
intense and genuine love of the big and beautiful in natural
scenery prompted him to buy as much as he could of the
forest slopes of Table Mountain, so that it might be saved for
ever from the hands of the builder, and the people, attracted to
it by gardens, wild animals, and stately architecture, might be
educated and ennobled by the contemplation of what he
thought one of the finest views in the world. This love of
mountain and distant view — the peaks of the South African
plateaux are seen 100 miles away across the Cape flats — was
deep-seated in his nature, and he would sit or ride silently for
hours at a time, dreaming and looking at the views he loved —
a political poet.

But from these create he can
Forms more real than living man,
Nurslings of Immortality.

There are many stones of him telling worried and disputing
politicians to turn from their " trouble of ants " to the Moun-
tain for calm, and in the same spirit he placed the stone
Phoenician hawk, found at Zimbabye, in the Cabinet Council-
room, that the emblem of time might preside over their
deliberations. The ennobling influence of natural scenery was
present in his mind in connection with every site he chose and
every building he contemplated ; such as a cottage he built,
where poets or artists could live and look across to the blue
mountain distance ; a University, where young men could be
surrounded with the best of nature and of art ; a lion-house, a
feature of which was to have been a long open colonnade,
where the people could at once see the king of beasts and the
lordliest of mountains ; the Kimberley " Bath," with its white
marble colonnades embedded in a green oasis of orange grove
and vine trellis, looking to the north over illimitable desert.
Such things would perhaps occur to most men, but with him

GROOTE SCHUUR. 17

(iv.) The grave of the late Jan Hendrik The
Hofmeyr upon the said property shall be Hofmeyr
protected and access be permitted thereto at
all reasonable times by any member of the
Hofmeyr family for the purpose of inspection
or maintenance.

I give to my Trustees hereinbefore named The Groote
such a sum of money as they shall carefully ascer- |ch",ur
tain and in their uncontrolled discretion consider
to be ample and sufficient to yield income amount-
ing to the sum of one thousand pounds sterling
per annum and not less upon trust that such
income shall be applied and expended for the
purposes following (that is to say)—

(i.) On and for keeping and maintaining its objects.
for the use of the Prime Minister for the
time being of the said Federal Government
of at least two carriage horses one or more
carriages and sufficient stable servants.

(ii.) On and for keeping and maintaining
in good order the flower and kitchen gardens
appertaining to the said residence.

(iii.) On and for the payment of the wages
or earnings including board and lodging of
two competent men servants to be housed
kept and employed in domestic service in
the said residence.

(iv.) On and for the improvement repair
renewal and insurance of the said residence
furniture plate and other articles.

they were a passion, almost a religion. Of his more monu-
mental architectural schemes few have been realised. For
these his taste lay in the direction of the larger and simpler
styles of Rome, Greece, and even Egypt, recognizing the
similarity of the climate and natural scenery of South Africa to
that of classic Southern Europe. He had the building ambition
of a Pericles or a Hadrian, and in his untimely death architec-
ture has the greatest cause to mourn."

The Hall.

Dealers were in the habit of leaving curios in the hall for Mr. Rhodes' s inspection.

A The Library.

Showing stone figure (Phcenician hawk} from ancient gold workings in Rhodesia.

The Billiard-room.

The Panelled Room.

20 THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

I direct that subject to the conditions and
trusts hereinbefore contained the said Federal
Government shall from the time it shall be con-
stituted have the management administration and
control of the said devise and legacy and that
my Trustees shall as soon as may be thereafter
vest and pay the devise and legacy given by the
two last preceding clauses hereof in and to such
Government if a corporate body capable of
accepting and holding the same or if not then
in some suitable corporate body so capable
named by such Government and that in the
meantime my Trustees shall in their uncontrolled
discretion manage administer and control the said
devise and legacy.

(4.) Bequests to Oriel College, Oxford.

I give the sum of ,£100,000 free of all duty
whatsoever to my old college Oriel College in the
University of Oxford (//) and I direct that the

(/;) In the list of the Masters of Arts of Oriel College, in
the year 1881, occurs this entry: "Rhodes, Cecil John," to
which a note is added, "late Premier of the Cape Colony."

Tradition says that Oriel was first founded by Edward II.,
who vowed as he fled from Bannockburn he would found a
religious house in the Virgin's honour if only Our Lady would
save from the pursuing Scot. Edward III. gave the University
the. mansion called Le Oriole which stood on the present site
of the College.

A portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh hangs on the walls of the
College Hall.

The present income of the College is said to be not more
than ,£7,500 per annum. The revenue of the twenty-one
Colleges of Oxford is £206, 102, or less than ^10,000 each.

The present Provost of Oriel is David Binning Monro : he
is also Vice-Chancellor of the University. Among the hon.
Fellows are Mr. Goldwin Smith, Lord Goschen, and Mr. Bryce.

Among the famous names associated with Oriel besides those
of Raleigh and Rhodes are the following : — Archbishop

BEQUESTS TO ORIEL COLLEGE, OXFORD. 21

receipt of the Bursar or other proper officer of the

College shall be a complete discharge for that

legacy and inasmuch as I gather that the erection

of an extension to High Street of the College For College

buildings would cost about ,£22,500 and that the buildings.

loss to the College revenue caused by pulling

down of houses to make room for the said new

College buildings would be about ,£250 per annum

I direct that the sum of ,£40,000 part of the said

sum of .£100,000 shall be applied in the first place

in the erection of the said new College buildings (z)

and that the remainder of such sum of ,£40,000

shall be held as a fund by the income whereof

the aforesaid loss to the College revenue shall so

tar as possible be made good.

And inasmuch as I gather that there is a Resident

j c. • • ii_ /^ 11 r r Fellows.

deficiency in the College revenue of some & 1,500
per annum whereby the Fellowships are impover-
ished and the status of the College is lowered I

Arundel, Cardinal Allen, Bishop Butler, Prynne, Langland,
author of " Piers Plowman" ; Barclay, author of "The Ship
of Fools " ; Gilbert White, author of the " Natural History of
Selborne " ; Thomas Hughes, author of " Tom Brown's
Schooldays"; Dr. Arnold, Bishop Wilberforce, Archbishop
Whately, Cardinal Newman, Dr. Pusey, John Keble, Bishop
Hampden.

(/') The extension of Oriel College cannot at present take
place. St. Mary Hall, which adjoins the College, belongs to
the Principal (Dr. Chase), who was appointed to that position
as far back as December, 1857. A statute made by the last
Commission provided that upon his death St. Mary Hall shall
be merged into Oriel College. The College has always con-
templated, sooner or later, an extension of its buildings to
High Street. The Hall runs close up to the houses facing the
University Church, and the majority of these premises already
belong to Oriel College. The northern side of the quadrangle
of St. Mary Hall will ultimately be pulled down, together with
the High Street shops, and the new buildings will face the
main thoroughfare on the one hand and the quadrangle on
the other.

THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

The High
Table.

direct that the sum of ,£40,000 further part of the
said sum of ,£100,000 shall be held as a fund by
the income whereof the income of such of the
resident Fellows of the College as work for the
honour and dignity of the College shall be
increased (/).

And I further direct that the sum of £10,000
further part of the said sum of £100,000 shall be
held as a fund by the income whereof the dignity
and comfort of the High Table may be maintained
by which means the dignity and comfort of the
resident Fellows may be increased.

And I further direct that the sum of £10,000
the remainder of the said sum of .£100,000 shall
be held as a repair fund the income whereof shall
be expended in maintaining and repairing the
College buildings.

And finally as the College authorities live
the^childhke secluded from the world and so are like children (k]
as to commercial matters I would advise them to

Repair
Fund.

Counsel to

(/) A senior member of Oriel when interviewed on the
subject of Mr. Rhodes's bequests said : — " The College
revenues do not admit at present of their paying the Fellows as
much as the Commission contemplated, and so far they had
been at a disadvantage. Mr. Rhodes probably became aware
of this fact, and wished to enable the College to reach the
limit set by the Commission, ^200 a year, as the maximum.
The limit imposed by the Commissioners will not apply to
Mr. Rhodes's bequest, it being a new endowment, so that not
only may the emoluments of the Fellowships reach the figure
specified by the Commissioners, but go beyond that. So far
Oriel College has not been able to rise to the level which the
Commissioners considered a proper amount. As to the
amount set apart for the High Table, we do not want more
comforts or luxuries, we are quite happy as we are. We have
enough to eat, but still, it was very kind of Mr. Rhodes to
think of us in that way."

(K) Possibly Cecil Rhodes was thinking when lie spoke of the
childlike and secluded Don of a story current in his day at
Oriel — and current still — of John Keble, who was better at

THE SCHOLARSHIPS AT OXFORD. 23

consult my Trustees as to the investment of these
various funds for they would receive great help
and assistance from the advice of my Trustees in
such matters and I direct that any investment
made pursuant to such advice shall whatsoever it
may be be an authorized investment for the money
applied in making it.

(5.) The Scholarships at Oxford.

Whereas I consider that the education of Objects of
young Colonists at one of the Universities in the Education.
United Kingdom is of great advantage to them
for giving breadth to their views for their instruc-
tion in life and manners (/) and for instilling into
their minds the advantage to the Colonies as well
as to the United Kingdom of the retention of the
unity of the Empire.

Christian poetry than at worldly calculation. One day Keble,
who was Bursar, discovered to his horror that the College
accounts came out nearly two thousand pounds on the wrong
side. The learned and pious men of Oriel tried to find the
weak spot, but it was not until expert opinion was called that
they found that Keble, casting up a column, had added the
date of the year to Oriel's debts !

(/) Mr. Rhodes, speaking to Mr. Iwan Miiller on the subject
of his scholarships, said : — " A lot of young Colonials go to
Oxford and Cambridge, and come back with a certain anti-
English feeling, imagining themselves to have been slighted
because they were Colonials. That, of course, is all nonsense.
I was a Colonial, and I knew everybody I wanted to know,
and everybody who wanted to knew me. The explanation is
that most of these youngsters go there on the strength of
scholarships, and insufficient allowances, and are therefore
practically confined to one set, that of men as poor as them-
selves, who use the University naturally and quite properly only
as a stepping-stone to something else. They are quite right,
but they don't get what I call a University Education, which is
the education of rubbing shoulders with every kind of indi-
vidual and class on absolutely equal terms ; therefore a very
poor man can never get the full value of an Oxford training."

THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

Advantages
of Residence.

Edinburgh

Medical

School.

The Union
of the
English-
speaking
Peoples.

And whereas in the case of young Colonists
studying at a University in the United Kingdom
I attach very great importance to the University
having a residential system such as is in force at
the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge for
without it those students are at the most critical
period of their lives left without any supervision.

And whereas there are at the present time 50
or more students from South Africa studying at
the University of Edinburgh many of whom are
attracted there by its excellent medical school and
I should like to establish some of the Scholarships
hereinafter mentioned in that University but
owing to its not having such a residential system
as aforesaid I feel obliged to refrain from doing
so. And whereas my own University the
University of Oxford has such a system and I
suggest that it should try and extend its scope so
as if possible to make its medical school at
least as good as that at the University of
Edinburgh (m).

And whereas I also desire to encourage and
foster an appreciation of the advantages which I

(m) "Mr. Rhodes," says "A Senior Member of Oriel,"
" suggests that the University shall develop a medical school
of the kind they have in Edinburgh. That might involve a
considerable expense on the University which it is hardly in a
position to bear, being very short of money as it is. The
question of a medical school has been often discussed, and so
far the conclusion arrived at has been adverse to the idea of
the establishment of a medical school at Oxford. It has been
considered that the infirmary at Oxford is not big enough, and
the cases are not sufficiently numerous to provide practical
experience for the students. The idea has been that they
should get their general knowledge at Oxford, and then obtain
practical hospital work elsewhere."

Commenting upon this, a distinguished Oxford Professor
said : — " The opinion expressed by a senior member of Oriel
College of the present position of the Medical School in

Marble Bath-room, Groote Schuur.

;» '--

Mr. Rhodes's Bedroom.

The bed was made by local craftsmen from a South African wood of great hardness.

C 2

From Mr. Tennyson-Cole's Portrait of Mr. Rhodes.

(Purchased by Oriel College, Oxford.)

THE SCHOLARSHIP AT OXFORD. 27

implicitly believe will result from the union of the
English-speaking peoples throughout the world
and to encourage in the students from the United
States of North America who will benefit from
the American Scholarships to be established for
the reason above given at the University of
Oxford under this my Will an attachment to the
country from which they have sprung but without

Oxford is in the main correct, but contains one sentence
which conveys an erroneous impression of the present attitude
of the University in relation to medical teaching.

"A medical education comprises three kinds of study,
each of which must be of first-rate quality. One of these is
preliminary, and consists in the theoretical and practical study
of general science. The second comprises anatomy, physi-
ology, pathology, pharmacology, and hygiene. The third is
purely professional, and corresponds to what used to be called
walking the hospitals.

" The subject of the first, namely, inorganic and organic
chemistry, natural philosophy, and biology are now amply
provided for in the University. We have laboratories which
are well equipped for present needs, though no doubt they
may require extension at a future period ; and very complete
collections for illustrating the instruction given in zoology and
bo'.any.

" Tne subjects of the second part are those which
.constitute the science of medicine as distinguished from its
practice. A physiological department was established some
fifteen years ago, the equipment of which will certainly bear
comparison with any other in the country. More space is,
however, required for the development of certain branches of
the subject. The department of human anatomy has been
completed for ten years.

"It has a museum, a commodious dissecting-room with
all modern improvements, and all other adjuncts that are
required for the teaching of a subject so important to medicine.
The pathological laboratory was opened by the Vice-Chancellor
six months ago. It is more closely related to practical medi-
cine than the others, and constitutes a common ground
between the University and the Radcliffe Infirmary. As
regards the building and the internal arrangements, it is all
that could be desired, but the funds available for its complete

The Shangani Monument.

These are small reproductions of tw3 oj four bas-reliefs which are being made
by Mr. John Tweed, the sculptor, for the monument to the men who fell in
the first MataMe War at Shangani. (See page 4.)

THE SCHOLARSHIPS AT OXFORD. 29

I hope withdrawing them or their sympathies
from the land of their adoption or birth.

Now therefore I direct my Trustees as soon Three-year
as may be after my death and either simultaneously scholar-
or gradually as they shall find convenient and if ships.
gradually then in such order as they shall think
fit to establish for male students the Scholarships
hereinafter directed to be established each of
which shall be of the yearly value of ^300 and
be tenable at any College in the University of
Oxford for three consecutive academical years (n}.

equipment are inadequate, nor has the University as yet been
able to provide sufficient remuneration for the teaching staff.

" The only branches of medical science, for the teaching of
which special departments have not yet been established, are
pharmacology (action of drugs) and public health.

" As regards the third part of the medical curriculum, viz.,
instruction in the practice of medicine, the University had
adopted the principle that the two or three years which its
students must devote to their purely professional studies
must be spent where the existence of great hospitals affords
opportunities for seeing medical and surgical practice in all
its branches.

" As regards medicine, Oxford has been for the last dozen
years providing what it considers the best possible education.
The practical difficulty which prevents many from taking
advantage of it is the long duration of the total period of
study. The Oxford student of medicine must spend some six
or seven years, reckoned from the date of matriculation to the
completion of his hospital work. This time cannot be
shortened with advantage. For those who come with the
income to which Mr. Rhodes's munificent bequest affords this
•difficulty will scarcely exist. The scholarship will abundantly
provide for the years spent in Oxford and enable its holders
to compete with advantage for the Hospital Scholarships which
have been already mentioned."

(n) The Rev. W. Greswell, M.A., wrote to the Times on
April 9th as follows : — " A scholarship foundation given during
his lifetime by the Right Hon. C. J. Rhodes has already been
in force at the Diocesan College, Rondebosch, near Cape
Town. This year two members of the college — W. T.
Yeoman and F. Reid — have been awarded ^175 per annum

30 THE WILL OP CECIL J. RHODES.

I direct my Trustees to establish certain
Scholarships and these Scholarships I some-

and ^125 per annum respectively in order to help them to go
to one of the colleges at Oxford and continue the studies
they have begun at the Cape. Originally the endowment was
of ^£250 per annum for a single scholarship, tenable for three
years at Oxford; but quite recently, by an additional act of
generosity on the part of the donor, ^50 per annum was
added to the value of the scholarship, bringing it up to ^300
per annum. At the same time a discretionary power was
given to the Diocesan College to apportion the whole sum,
pro hac vice, between the first two competitors, if it seemed ex-
pedient to do so and if the parents were willing and able to
add something of their own. For Mr. Rhodes always thought
that a student coming to Oxford should have a thoroughly
sufficient, if not good, allowance, in order that he might enter
into every phase of University life without the ever-present
thought of the ' res angusta domi.' The scholars-elect are
still continuing their studies at the college at Rondebosch until
such time as they are ready to proceed to Oxford in 1903.
Mr. Rhodes made, in the case of the Diocesan College, some-
what the same stipulation as to tests and proficiency as in his
subsequent magnificent endowments."

The Bursar of Christ Church being questioned as to the
point whether the ^300 a year would close the gates of Christ
Church to the Rhodes scholars, Mr. Skene pointed out that
it all depended on the question whether the ^300 a year was
to keep the scholars the whole year through, both in term time
at the University and in vacation elsewhere, or merely during
the University years of six months. " If the latter," he said,
" then ^300 a year will keep them comfortably enough at
Christ Church, and will enable them to enter into the social
and varied life of the House. But if this amount is also to
serve for vacation expenses, the balance left for the University
will make it impossible, or, at any rate, inadvisable, for them
to come to Christ Church."

A senior member of Oriel says Mr. Rhodes contemplated
that the sum he provides shall be sufficient to maintain the
recipients, together with their personal expenses, travelling,
clothing, etc., and to enable them to mix freely in the society
of the place and take a position amongst men who are well
equipped in this world's goods. An ordinary young man at
Oxford — I don't say at this college — would be comfortably off
with an allowance of ^250 a year, and many parents allow

THE SCHOLARSHIPS AT OXFORD. 31

times hereinafter refer to as "the Colonial
Scholarships. "(0)

their sons that amount. Mr. Rhodes makes it ^300—
probably he took into consideration that people coming from
abroad would have to face extra expenditure in the shape of
travelling expenses.

(0} Mr. Stevenson, of Exeter College, says there already
exists in Oxford a small Colonial club for occasional meetings
and dinners and the supply of friendly information. But the
Colonials whom I have known very readily merge in the
surrounding mass of undergraduates. There are several
Colonials and Americans, for example, at Balliol, and Corpus,
and Lincoln, and St. John's. Morally they are strong men,
and they are popular. Then they are good athletes. We had
two Americans in the boat this year. If Mr. Rhodes's trust
should be the means of our getting some gigantic Colonials —
or even Boers, for he excludes no race — who can do great
things, say, at putting the weight, we may be able to wipe out
Cambridge altogether ! All Oxonians would agree that that
would be a great achievement.

Photograph by]

Oriel College, Oxford.

[Taunt, Oxford.

THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

The Colonial
Scholar-
ships.

The appropriation of the Colonial Scholar-
ships and the numbers to be annually filled up
shall be in accordance with the following table :—

total No.
Appro-
priated.

To be tenable by Students of
or from

No. of Scholar-
ships to be
Filled up in
each Year.

Rhodesia

3 and no more

The South African Col-

lege School in the
Colony of the Cape

i and no more

of Good Hope.

The Stellenbosch Col-j

lege School in the I

i and no more

same Colony

South Africa 24 ,

The Diocesan College

School of Ronde-

i and no more

bosch in the same

Colony

St. Andrew's College")

School Grahams- ?

i and no more

town

The Colony of Natal)
in the same Colony)

i and no more

The Colony of New)
South Wales )

i and no more

The Colony of Victoria i and no more

The Colony of South) x and no more

Australia )

The Colony of Queens-

i and no more

Australasia . 21

land

The Colony of Western

; i and no more

Australia

The Colony of Tas-

i and no more

mania

, 3

The Colony of New

i and no more

Zealand

The Province of On-1

tario in the Domi-V i and no more

Canada . . 6

nion of Canada
The Province of Que-]

bee in the Dominion

> i and no more

of Canada

The Colony or Island

of Newfoundland

i and no more

Atlantic Is-

and its Depen-

lands . . 6

dencies

, 3

The Colony or Islands"

i and no more

of the Bermudas '

West Indies 3

The Colony or Island"

i and no more

—

of Jamaica \

Total . 60

20 ( f>}

THE SCHOLARSHIPS AT OXFORD,

I further direct my Trustees to establish American
additional Scholarships sufficient in number for s
the appropriation in the next following clause
hereof directed and those Scholarships I some-

(/) The following is a list of Colonies to which no
Scholarships have been appropriated : —

POPULATION.
WHITE. COLOURED.
CANADA Nova Scotia 459.000
New Brunswick 331,000
Prince Edward Island ... 103,250 about
Manitoba 246,500 ... 100,000
North-West Territories ... 220,000
British Columbia 190,000

WEST INDIES ... Bahamas
Leeward Islands
Windward Islands ...

i 549,750 100,000

15,000 38,000
5,000 122,500
5,000 92,500

MEDITERRANEAN...

Trinidad and Tobago

Gibraltar
Malta

10,000 262,000

50,000 695,000
22,000

264,000 179,000

20,000 3,922,000

Hong Kong

2,500 97,500
3,75' 621,^0^

i S'Q '

The following is
have been allotted :-

SOUTH AFRICA
AUSTRALASIA

CANADA
ATLANTIC ISLANDS
WEST INDIES
TOTAL .

the population of

Rhodesia
Cape Colony
Natal
New South Wales ..

the Colonies to which scholarships

POPULATION. SCHOLAR-
WHITE. COLOURED. SHIPS.
n,coo ... 800,000 ... 9
500,000 ...1,850,000 ... 12
64,900 ... 865,000 ... 3
... 1,35^,000 ... 7,200 . 3

South Australia
Queensland
Western Australia. ..
New Zeiland
Tasmania
Ontario

... 353,000 ... 7,000 ... 3
473,000 ... 30,200 ... 3
152,500 ... 30,000 ... 3
770,000 ... 46,030 ... 3
... 173,000 ... ... 3
... 2,168,000 ... ... 3

Jamaica

15,000 ... 730,000 ... 3

Thus a population of 13,460,000 persons in the British Colonies is
allotted 60 scholarships. A population of 76,000,000 in the United States
is only allowed 100 scholarships. But a population of 7,405,000 persons,
excluding India, Nigeria and Egypt, are allotted no scholarships at all.
The average of scholarships to population is one in 760,000 in the United
States, and one in 224,000 in the fifteen British Colonies to which they have
been allotted. If the omitted British Colonies were dealt with on the same
scale as the fifteen, 33 new scholarships would have to be founded.

THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

times hereinafter refer to as " the American
Scholarships."

I appropriate two of the American Scholar-
ships to each of the present States and Territories
of the United States of North America, (q] Pro-

(g) The following is a list of the States and Territories of
the United States, with their population at the time of the last
census : —

POPULATION — UNITED STATES, 1900.

STATE.

POI'ULATION.

STATE.

POPULATION.

Alabama

1,828,697

Rhode Island

428,556

Arkansas

i,3II>564

South Carolina .

I,340,3l6

California

1,485,053

South Dakota

401,570

Colorado

539.7°°

Tennessee

2,O2O,6l6

Connecticut.

908,355

Texas

3,048,710

Delaware

184,735

Utah . . .

276,749

Florida .

528,542

Vermont .

343,641

Georgia .

2,216,331

Virginia .

1,854,184

Idaho

161,772

Washington .

5l8,I03

Illinois .

4,821,550

West Virginia

958,800

Indiana .

2,516,462

Wisconsin

2,069,042

Iowa

2,231,853

Wyoming.

92,531

Kansas .

i,47o,495

Kentucky .

2,i47,i74

45 STATES. TOTAL

74,610,523

Louisiana

1,381,625

Maine .

694,466

Maryland

1,190,050

TERRITORIES, ETC.

Massachusetts .

2,805,346

Alaska .

63,441

Michigan

2.420,982

A rizona

122,931

Minnesota .
Mississippi .

1,751.394

loS1, 27°

District of Col-)
umbia . $

278,718

Missouri

3.106,665

Hawaii .

154,001

Montana
Nebraska

243,329
'1,068,539

Indian Terri-j
tory . . J

391,960

Nevada .

42,335

New Mexico .

195,310

New Hampshire

411,588

Oklahama .

398,245

New Jersey .

1,883,669

PERSONS IN

New York .

7,268,012

SERVICE

North Carolina .

1,893,810

STATIONED

84,400

North Dakota .

319,146

ABROAD.

Ohio . . .

4,157,545

5 Territories.

Oregon .

4i3,536

Pennsylvania

6,302,115 U.S. TOTAL .

76,299,529

THE SCHOLARSHIPS AT OXFORD. 35

vided that if any of the said Territories shall
in my lifetime be admitted as a State the
Scholarships appropriated to such Territory
shall be appropriated to such State and that
my Trustees may in their uncontrolled dis-
cretion withhold for such time as they shall
think fit the appropriation of Scholarships to any
Territory.

I direct that of the two Scholarships
appropriated to a State or Territory not
more than one shall be filled up in any year so
that at no time shall more than two Scholar-
ships be held for the same State or Terri-
tory, (r)

By Codicil executed in South Africa Mr. German
Rhodes after stating that the German Emperor Sc.holar-

, , , . ° . i~i €. . , . ships.

had made instruction m English compulsory in
German schools establishes fifteen Scholarships
at Oxford (five in each of the first three years
after his death) of ^250 each tenable for three
years for students of German birth to be nomi-
nated by the German Emperor for " a good
understanding between England Germany and
the United States of America will secure the

(r) Mr. Stevenson, of Exeter College, told an interviewer
recently a good story of an American who came to Oxford
without a scholarship or other aid. He was a wild Westerner,
and unceremoniously walked into a college one day and asked
to see the Head. He then asked to be admitted on the books.
He had no particular references, but clearly was a strong man.
After some time he was admitted. He read hard and played
hard. In the long vacation he returned to America and worked
for his living— at one time as a foreman of bricklayers — and
brought back enough money to go on with. In the Christmas
" vac." he went to America and lectured on Oxford and
England, and again brought back more money. And so he
gradually kept his terms and eventually took double honours.
" He was very well read : most interesting : most enthusiastic.
We could do with many like him."

THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

The selec-
tion of the
scholars.

The four
qualifica-
tions.

peace of the world and educational relations form
the strongest tie." (s)

My desire being that the students who shall
be elected to the Scholarships shall not be
merely bookworms I direct that in the election
of a student to a Scholarship regard shall
be had to

(i.) his literary and scholastic attainments
(ii.) his fondness of and success in manly
outdoor sports such as cricket football and
the like

(iii.) his qualities of manhood truth courage
devotion to duty sympathy for the protection
of the weak kindliness unselfishness and
fellowship
and

(iv.) his exhibition during school days of
moral force of character and of instincts to
lead and to take an interest in his school-
mates for those latter attributes will be likely
in after-life to guide him to esteem the per-
formance of public duty as his highest aim.

(s) I am assured, says the Daily Telegraph Berlin corre-
spondent, that Kaiser Wilhelm himself was much struck by the
donor's generosity, and by the motives which actuated him in
thinking of Germany in this way. His Majesty was specially
touched by the attention shown to himself, and forthwith
signified his intention to comply with the stipulation thai
candidates for the scholarships should be nominated by himself.
In due time they will be so selected by the Kaiser.

Mr. W. G. Black, of Glasgow, writes to the Spectator : —
" Mr. Rhodes seems to have been impressed by the German
Emperor's direction that English should be taught in the
schools of Germany. It may not be uninteresting to note that
his Majesty's first action on receiving Heligoland from Great
Britain was to prohibit the teaching of English in the
island schools. That was in 1890. The prohibition was
bitterly resented by the people, who had since 1810 been
subjects of the British Crown, but they were, of course,,
powerless."

38 THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

Apportion- As mere suggestions for the guidance of those

marks! w^° w^l have the choice of students for the
Scholarships I record that (i.) my ideal qualified
student would combine these four qualifications
in the proportions of three-tenths for the first
two-tenths for the second three-tenths for the
third and two-tenths for the fourth qualification
so that according to my ideas if the maximum
number of marks for any Scholarship were 200
they would be apportioned as follows — 60 to
each of the first and third qualifications and
40 to each of the second and fourth qualifications
(ii.) the marks for the several qualifications would
be awarded independently as follows (that is to
say) the marks for the first qualification by
examination for the second and third qualifica-
tions respectively by ballot by the fellow-students
of the candidates and for the fourth qualification
by the head master of the candidate's school and
(iii.) the results of the awards (that is to say the
marks obtained by each candidate for each
qualification) would be sent as soon as possible
for consideration to the Trustees or to some
person or persons appointed to receive the same
and the person or persons so appointed would
ascertain by averaging the marks in blocks of 20
marks each of all candidates the best ideal quali-
fied students. (/)

(/) The following account of the discussion which took
place when the proportion of marks was finally settled is quoted
from the REVIEW OF REVIEWS, May, 1902, p. 480. The
discussion is reported by Mr. Stead, who was present with Mr.
Rhodes and Mr. Hawksley : —

Then, later on, when Mr. Hawksley came in, we had a
long discussion concerning the number of marks to be allotted
under each of the heads.

Mr. Rhodes said : " I'll take a piece of paper. I have got
my three things. You know the way I put them," he said

THE SCHOLARSHIPS AT OXFORD. 39

No student shall be qualified or disqualified for No Racial

1 • 011 !_• fi_ • °r Religious

election to a Scholarship on account ot his race or Tests,
religious opinions.

Except in the cases of the four schools herein- Method of
before mentioned the election to Scholarships
shall be by the Trustees after such (if any) con-
sultation as they shall think fit with the Minister

laughing, as he wrote down the points. " First, there are the
three qualities. You know I am all against letting the scholar-
ships merely to people who swot over books, who have spent
all their time over Latin and Greek. But you must allow for
that element which I call 'smug,' and which means scholar-
ship. That is to stand for four-tenths. Then there is
' brutality,' which stands for two-tenths. Then there is tact
and leadership, again two-tenths, and then there is ' unctuous
rectitude,' two-tenths. That makes up the whole. You see
how it works."

Then Mr. Hawksley read the draft clause, the idea of
which was suggested by Lord Rosebery, I think. The scheme
as drafted ran somewhat in this way : —

A scholarship tenable at Oxford for three years at ^300
a year is to be awarded to the scholars at some particular
school in the Colony or State. The choice of the candidate
ultimately rests with the trustees, who, on making their choice,
must be governed by the following considerations. Taking
one thousand marks as representing the total, four hundred
should be allotted for an examination in scholarship, conducted
in the ordinary manner on the ordinary subjects. Two
hundred shall be awarded for proficiency in manly sports, for
the purpose of securing physical excellence. Two hundred
shall be awarded (and this is the most interesting clause of all)
to those who, in their intercourse with their fellows, have dis-
played most of the qualities of tact and skill which go to the
management of men, who have shown a public spirit in the
affairs of their school or their class, who are foremost in the
defence of the weak and the friendless, and who display those
moral qualities which qualify them to be regarded as capable
leaders of men. The remaining two hundred would be vested
in the headmaster.

The marks in the first category would be awarded by com-
petitive examination in the ordinary manner ; in the second
and third categories the candidate would be selected by the
vote of his fellows in the school The headmaster would of

40 THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

having the control of education in such Colony,
Province, State or Territory.

A qualified student who has been elected as
aforesaid shall within six calendar months after
his election or as soon thereafter as he can be
admitted into residence or within such extended
time as my Trustees shall allow commence

course vote alone. It is provided that the vote of the scholars
should be taken by ballot ; that the headmaster should nomi-
nate his candidate before the result of the competitive examina-
tion under (i), or of the ballot under (2) and (3) was known,
and the ballot would take place before the result of the
competitive examination was known, so that the trustees would
have before them the names of the first scholar judged by
competitive examination, the first selected for physical
excellence and for moral qualities, and the choice of the
headmaster. The candidate under each head would be
selected without any knowledge as to who would come out on
top in the other categories. To this Mr. Rhodes had objected
on the ground that it gave "unctuous rectitude" a casting
vote, and he said "unctuous rectitude" would always vote
for " smug," and the physical and moral qualities would
go by the board. To this I added the further objection that
" smug" and "brutality" might tie, and "unctuous rectitude "
might nominate a third person, who was selected neither by
" smug " nor " unctuous rectitude," with the result that there
would be a tie, and the trustees would have to choose without
any information upon which to base their judgment. So I
insisted, illustrating it by an imaginary voting paper, that the
only possible way to avoid these difficulties was for the trustees
or the returning officer to be furnished not merely with the
single name which heads each of the four categories, but with
the result of the ballot to five or even ten down, and that the
headmaster should nominate in order of preference the same
number. The marks for the first five or ten in the competitive
examination would of course also be recorded, and in that case
the choice would be automatic. The scholar selected would
be the one who had the majority of marks, and it might easily
happen that the successful candidate was one who was not top
in any one of the categories. Mr. Rhodes strongly supported
this view, and Mr. Hawksley concurred, and a clause is to be
prepared stating that all the votes rendered at any rate for the
first five or ten should be notified to the trustees, and also the

Photograph by}

Mr. B. F. Hawksley.

[E. H. Mills.

D 2

THE SCHOLARSHIPS AT OXFORD. 43

residence as an undergraduate at some college in
the University of Oxford.

The scholarships shall be payable to him from
the time when he shall commence such residence.

I desire that the Scholars holding the scholar- Scholars to
ships shall be distributed amongst the Colleges of be djstri-
the University of Oxford and not resort in undue colleges™
numbers to one or more Colleges only.

order of precedence for five or ten to the headmaster. Mr.
Rhodes then said he did not see why the trustees need have
any responsibility in the matter, except in case of dispute, when
their decision should be final. This I strongly supported,
saying that provided the headmaster had to prepare his list
before the result in the balloting or competition was known,
he might be constituted returning officer, or, if need be, one of
the head boys might be empowered to act with him, and then
the award of the scholarship would be a simple sum in arith-
metic. There would be no delay, and nothing would be done
to weaken the interest. As soon as the papers were all in the
marks could be counted up, and the scholarship proclaimed.

First I raised the question as to whether the masters should
be allowed to vote. Mr. Rhodes said it did not matter.
There would only be fourteen in a school of six hundred boys,
and their votes would not count. I said that they would have
a weight far exceeding their numerical strength, for if they were
excluded from any voice they would not take the same interest
that they would if they had a vote, while their judgment would
be a rallying point for the judgment of the scholars. I
protested against making the masters Outlanders, depriving
them of votes, and treating them like political helots, at which
Rhodes laughed. But he was worse than Kruger, and would
not give them the franchise on any terms.

Then Mr. Hawksley said he was chiefly interested in the
third category — that is, moral qualities of leadership. I said
yes, it was the best and the most distinctive character of Mr.
Rhodes's school ; that I was an outside barbarian, never
having been to a university or a public school, and therefore I
spoke with all deference ; but speaking as an outside barbarian,
and knowing Mr. Rhodes's strong feeling against giving too
much preponderance to mere literary ability, I thought it
would be much better to alter the proportion of marks to be
awarded for " smug " and moral qualities respectively, that is
to say, I would reduce the " smug " to 200 votes, and put 4op

THE WILL OP CECIL J. RHODES.

Discipline.

The Annual
Dinner.

Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore con-
tained my Trustees may in their uncontrolled
discretion suspend for such time as they shall
think fit or remove any Scholar from his
Scholarship.

In order that the Scholars past and present
may have opportunities of meeting and discussing
their experiences and prospects I desire that my
Trustees shall annually give a dinner to the past
and present Scholars able and willing to attend at

on to moral qualities. Against this both Mr. Rhodes and
Mr. Hawksley protested, Mr. Rhodes objecting that in that
case the vote of the scholars would be the deciding factor, and
the " smug " and " unctuous rectitude " would be outvoted.
If brutality and moral qualities united their votes they would
poll 600, as against 400.

It was further objected, both Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Hawks-
ley drawing upon their own reminiscences of school-days, that
hero-worship prevailed to such an extent among schoolboys
that a popular idol, the captain of an eleven, or the first in his
boat, might be voted in although he had no moral qualities at
all. Mr. Hawksley especially insisted upon the importance of
having a good share of culture in knowledge of Greek and
Roman and English history. Then I proposed as a com-
promise that we should equalise " smug " and moral qualities.
Mr. Rhodes accepted this, Mr. Hawksley rather reproaching
him for being always ready to make a deal. But Mr. Rhodes
pointed out that he had resisted the enfranchisement of the
masters, who were to be helots, and he had also refused to
reduce " smug " to 200, and thought 300 was a fair com-
promise. So accordingly it was fixed that it had to be 300 —
300 for " smug " and 300 for moral qualities, while " unctuous
rectitude " and " brutality " are left with 200 each.

We all agreed that this should be done, half the marks are
at the disposal of the voting of the scholars, the other half for
competition and the headmaster. It also emphasises the
importance of qualities entirely ignored in the ordinary com-
petitive examinations, which was Mr. Rhodes's great idea.
Mr Rhodes was evidently pleased with the change, for just as
we were leaving the hotel he called Mr. Hawksley back
and said, " Remember, three-tenths," so three-tenths it is
to be.

THE DALHAM HALL ESTATE. 45

which I hope my Trustees or some of them will
be able to be present and to which they will I hope
from time to time invite as guests persons who
have shown sympathy with the views expressed
by me in this my Will.

(6.) The Dalham Hall Estate.

The Dalham Hall Estate (21) is by Codicil
dated January i8th 1902 strictly settled on
Colonel Francis Rhodes and his heirs male with
remainder to Captain Ernest Frederick Rhodes
and his heirs male.

The Codicil contains the following clause :—
Whereas I feel that it is the essence of a proper "The
life that every man should during" some substantial essence °f a

. T , v T , r • • i proper life."

period thereof have some definite occupation and
I object to an expectant heir developing into what
I call a " loafer."

And whereas the rental of the Dalham Hall On encum-
Estate is not more than sufficient for the mainten- k.ered

r , , ... Estates.

ance of the estate and my experience is that one
of the things making for the strength of England
is the ownership of country estates which could
maintain the dignity and comfort of the head of
the family but that this position has been abso-
lutely ruined by the practice of creating charges
upon the estates either for younger children or
for the payment of debts whereby the estates
become insufficient to maintain the head of the
family in dignity and comfort.

And whereas I humbly believe that one of Country
the secrets of England's strength has been the streng[nSof &
existence of a class termed " the country land- England.

(u) Dalham Hall Estate was purchased by Mr. Rhodes the
year before his death. It is situate in Suffolk, not far from
Newmarket, and is 3,475 acres in extent.

THE WILL OF CECIL J. RHODES.

Conditions
of tenure.

No encum-
brance.

lords " who devote their efforts to the maintenance
of those on their own property, (v) And whereas
this is my own experience. Now therefore I direct
that if any person who under the limitations
hereinbefore contained shall become entitled as
tenant for life or as tenant in tail male by purchase
to the possession or to the receipt of the rents
and profits of the Dalham Hall Estate shall
attempt to assign charge or incumber his interest
in the Dalham Hall Estate or any part thereof
or shall do or permit any act or thing or any
event shall happen by or in consequence of which
he would cease to be entitled to such interest if

(v) In the Fortnightly Review for May, 1902, Mr. Iwan-
Miiller gives the following account of the reasons which
Mr. Rhodes gave him for preferring country landlords to
manufacturers : — " He told me how during a recent visit to
England he had stayed with an English country gentleman of
very large estates.

" ' I went about with him,' he said in effect, although I do
not profess to be able to recall the exact wording of his
sentences, 'and I discovered that he knew the history and
personal circumstances of every man, woman, and child upon
his property. He was as well instructed in their pedigrees as
themselves, and could tell how long every tenant or even
labourer had been connected with the estate, and what had
happened to any of them in the course of their lives. From
there T went on to a successful manufacturer, a man of high
standing and benevolent disposition. He took me over his
works, and explained the machinery and the different improve-
ments that had been made, with perfect familiarity with his
subject, but, except as to the heads of departments, foremen
and the like, he absolutely knew nothing whatever about the
lives and conditions of his " hands." Now,' he added, ' my
manufacturing friend was a more progressive man, and
probably a more capable man than my landlord friend. Yet
the very necessities of the latter's position compelled him to
discharge duties of the existence of which the other had no
idea. The manufacturer built schools and endowed libraries,
and received reports as to their management, but he never
knew, or cared to know, what effect his philanthropy had upon
the individual beneficiaries.' "

THE DALHAM HALL ESTATE. 47

the same were given to him absolutely or if any
such person as aforesaid (excepting in this case
my said brothers Francis Rhodes and Ernest
Frederick Rhodes) (i) shall not when he shall
become so entitled as aforesaid have been for at
least ten consecutive years engaged in some Ten years'
profession or business or (ii.) if not then engaged work-
in some profession or business and (such profes-
sion or business not being that of the Army) not
then also a member of some militia or volunteer Serve in
corps shall not within one year after becoming so ^'l1
entitled as aforesaid or (being an infant) within
one year after attaining the age of twenty-one
years whichever shall last happen unless in any
case prevented by death become engaged in
some profession or business and (such profession
or business not being that of the Army) also
become a member of some militia or volunteer
corps or (iii.) shall discontinue to be engaged in
any profession or business before he shall have
been engaged for ten consecutive years in some
profession or business then and in every such case
and forthwith if such person shall be tenant for
life then his estate for life shall absolutely deter-
mine and if tenant in tail male then his estate in
tail male shall absolutely determine and the Forfeiture of
Dalham Hall Estate shall but subject to estates if title-
any prior to the estate of such person immediately
go to the person next in remainder under the
limitations hereinbefore contained in the same
manner as if in the case of a person whose estate
for life is so made to determine that person were
dead or in the case of a person whose estate in tail
male is so made to determine were dead and
there were a general failure of issue of that person
inheritable to the estate which is so made to
determine.

THE DALHAM HALL ESTATE. 49

Provided that the determination of an estate
for life shall not prejudice or effect any contin-
gent remainders expectant thereon and that
after such determination the Dalham Hall
Estate shall but subject to estates if any prior
as aforesaid remain to the use of the Trustees
appointed by my said Will and the Codicil
thereto dated the iith day of October 1901
during the residue of the life of the person
whose estate for life so determines upon trust
during the residue of the life of that person to
pay the rents and profits of the Dalham Hall
Estate to or present the same to be received
by the person or persons for the time being
entitled under the limitations hereinbefore con-
tained to the first vested estate in remainder
expectant on the death of that person.

After various private dispositions Mr. Rhodes
in his original will left the residue of his real and
personal estate to the Earl of Rosebery, Earl
Grey, Alfred Beit, William Thomas Stead, Lewis
Lloyd Michell and Bourchier Francis Hawksley
absolutely as joint tenants.

The same persons were also appointed execu-
tors and trustees.

In a Codicil dated January, 1901, Mr. Rhodes
directed that the name of W. T. Stead should be
removed from the list of his executors.

In a second Codicil dated October, 1901,
Mr. Rhodes added the name of Lord Milner to
the list of joint tenants, executors and trustees.

In a third Codicil, dated March, 1902,
Mr. Rhodes appointed Dr. Jameson as one of
his trustees, with all the rights of other trustees.

The Right Hon. Cecil J. Rhodes.

(From a sketch by the Marchioness of Granby.)

PART II.

THE POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS OF
MR. RHODES.

WHEN Mr. Rhodes died, the most conspicuous figure left in
the English-speaking race since the death of Queen Victoria
disappeared. Whether loved or feared, he towered aloft above
all his contemporaries. There are many who hold that he
would be entitled to a black statue in the Halls of Eblis. But
even those who distrusted and disliked him most, pay reluctant
homage to the portentous energy of a character which has
affected the world so deeply for weal or for woe. Outside
England none of our politicians, statesmen, or administrators
impressed the imagination of the world half as deeply as Cecil
Rhodes. For good or for evil he ranked among the dozen
foremost men of his day. He was one of the few men neither
royal nor noble by birth who rose by sheer force of character
and will to real, although not to titular, Imperial rank. After
the Pope, the Kaiser, the Tsar, there were few contemporary
statesmen who commanded as much attention, who roused as
much interest, as the man who has passed from our midst
while still in his prime. The few who knew him loved him.
The majority, to whom he was unknown, paid him their
homage, some of their admiration, and others of their hate. And
it must be admitted that the dread he inspired among those who
disliked him was more widespread than the affection he com-
manded from those who came within the magic of his presence.
He is gone, leaving a gap which no one at present can ever
aspire to fill. The world has echoed words and deeds of his
which will long reverberate in the dim corridors of time.

To those who, like myself, have to bear the poignant grief
caused by the loss of a dearly loved friend, whose confidence
and affection had stood the test even of the violent antagonism
roused by extreme difference of opinion on the subject of the

52 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

South African War, it is impossible to speak of Cecil Rhodes
at this moment with judicial impartiality. I knew him too
intimately and loved him too well to care to balance his faults
against his virtues or to lay a critical finger upon the flaws in
the diamond. For with all his faults the man was great,
almost immeasurably great, when contrasted with the pigmies
who pecked and twittered in his shade. To those who are
inclined to dwell more upon the wide-wasting ruin in which his
fatal blunder involved the country that he loved, it may be
sufficient to remark that even the catastrophe which was
wrought by his mistake may contribute more to the permanent
welfare of the Empire than all the achievements of his earlier
life.

Mr. Rhodes's last Will and Testament reveals him to the
world as the first distinguished British statesman whose
Imperialism was that of Race and not that of Empire. The
one specific object* defined in the Will as that to which his
wealth is to be applied proclaims with the simple eloquence of
a deed that Mr. Rhodes was colour-blind between the British
Empire and the American Republic. His fatherland, like that
of the poet Arndt, is coterminous with the use of the tongue of
his native land. In his Will he aimed at making Oxford
University the educational centre of the English-speaking race.
He did this of set purpose, and in providing the funds neces-
sary for the achievement of this great idea he specifically
prescribed that every American State and Territory shall share
with the British Colonies in his patriotic benefaction.

Once every year " Founder's Day " will be celebrated at
Oxford ; and not at Oxford only, but wherever on the broad
world's surface half-a-dozen old " Rhodes scholars " come
together they will celebrate the great ideal of Cecil Rhodes —
the first of modern statesmen to grasp the sublime conception
of the essential unity of the race. Thirty years hereafter there
will be between two and three thousand men in the prime of
life scattered all over the world, each one of whom will have
had impressed upon his mind in the most susceptible period of
his life the dream of the Founder.

It is, therefore, well to put on record in accessible form all
available evidence as to the nature of his dream.

What manner of man was this Cecil Rhodes who has made

Photograph by\

The Earl of Rosebery.

[Jerrard, Regent Street.

POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

such careful provision for perpetuating the memory of the
dreams which he dreamed, in order that generations yet
unborn may realise the ideals which fired his imagination when
a youth at Oxford, and which he followed like the fiery cloudy
pillar through all his earthly pilgrimage ?

To answer this question we have, first of all, his own
writings ; secondly, his public speeches ; and, lastly, we have
confidential communings with the friends whom he loved and
trusted.

Mr. Rhodes at home studying the Map of Africa.

CHAPTER I.— HIS WRITINGS.

I WILL deal with them each in their order, taking his
writings first — writings which were made known to the world
for the first time after his death. Of his last Will and
Testament, executed in 1899, printed in the first part of this
volume, I need not speak. I confine myself in this part to his
other writings.

Cecil Rhodes, in the current phrase of the hour, was an
empire maker. He was much more than that. Empire
makers are almost as common as empire breakers, and, indeed,
as in his case, the two functions are often combined. But
Cecil Rhodes stands on a pedestal of his own. He was a
man apart. It was his distinction to be the first of the new
Dynasty of Money Kings which has been evolved in these
later days as the real rulers of the modern world. There have
been many greater millionaires than he. His friend and ally,
Mr. Beit, could probably put down a bank-note for every
sovereign Mr. Rhodes possessed, and still be a multi-
millionaire. As a rich man Mr. Rhodes was not in the
running with Mr. Carnegie, Mr. Rockefeller, or Mr. Astor.
But although there have been many wealthier men, none of
them, before Mr. Rhodes, recognised the opportunities of ruling
the world which wealth affords its possessor. The great
financiers of Europe have no doubt often used their powers to
control questions of peace or war and to influence politics, but
they always acted from a strictly financial motive. Their aims
were primarily the shifting of the values of stocks. To effect
that end they have often taken a leading hand in political
deals. But Mr. Rhodes inverted the operation. With him
political considerations were always paramount. If he used
the market he did it in order to secure the means of achieving
political ends. Hence it is no exaggeration to regard him as
the first — he will not be the last — of the Millionaire Monarchs
of the Modern World.

He was the founder of the latest of the dynasties which
seems destined to wield the sceptre of sovereign power over
the masses of mankind. He has fallen in mid-career. His

56 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

plans are but rudely sketched in outline, and much of the
work which he had begun is threatened with destruction by
his one fatal mistake. But he lived long enough to enable
those who were nearest to him to realise his idea and to recog-
nise the significance of his advent upon the stage in the present
state of the evolution of human society.

Mr. Rhodes was more than the founder of a dynasty. He
aspired to be the creator of one of those vast semi-religious,
quasi-political associations which, like the Society of Jesus,
have played so large a part in the history of the world. To
be more strictly accurate, he wished to found an Order as the
instrument of the will of the Dynasty, and while he lived he
dreamed of being both its Caesar and its Loyola. It was this
far-reaching, world-wide aspiration of the man which rendered,
to those who knew him, so absurdly inane the speculations of
his critics as to his real motives. Their calculations as to his
ultimate object are helpful only because they afford us some
measure of the range of their horizon. When they told us
that Mr. Rhodes was aiming at amassing a huge fortune, of
becoming Prime Minister of the Cape, or even of being the
President of the United States of South Africa, of obtaining a
peerage and of becoming a Cabinet Minister, we could not
repress a smile. They might as well have said he was coveting
a new pair of pantaloons or a gilded epaulette. Mr. Rhodes
was one of the rare minds whose aspirations are as wide
as the world. Such aspirations are usually to be discovered
among the founders of religions rather than among the founders
of dynasties. It is this which constituted the unique, and to
many the utterly incomprehensible, combination of almost
incompatible elements in Mr. Rhodes's character. So utterly
incomprehensible was the higher mystic side of Mr. Rhodes's
character to those among whom it was his fate to live and
work, that after a few vain efforts to explain his real drift he
gave up the task in despair. It would have been easier to
interpret colour to a man born blind, or melody to one stone-
deaf from his birth, than to open the eyes of the understanding
of the " bulls " and " bears " of the Stock Exchange to the far-
reaching plans and lofty ambitions which lay behind the issue
of Chartereds. So the real Rhodes dwelt apart in the sanctuary
of his imagination, into which the profane were never admitted.

Lord Milner, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.

(From Mr. P. Tennyson- Cole's portrait in the Royal Academy.}

£ 2

58 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

But it was in that sphere that he really lived, breathing that
mystic and exalted atmosphere which alone sustained his
spiritual life.

When Mr. Rhodes had not yet completed his course at
Oxford he drew up what he called " a draft of some of my
ideas." It was when he was in Kimberley. He wrote it, he
said, in his letter to me of August, 1891, when he was about
twenty-two years of age. When he promised to send this to
me to read, he said, "You will see that I have not altered
much as to my feelings." In reality he must have written it
at the beginning of 1877, otherwise he could not have referred
to the Russo-Turkish War, which began in that year. On
inquiry among those who were associated with him in his
college days, I find that, although he talked much about
almost every subject under heaven, he was very reticent as to
the political ideas which were fermenting in his brain in the
long days and nights that he spent on the veldt, away from
intellectual society, communing with his own soul, and medi-
tating upon the world-movements which were taking place
around him. This document may be regarded as the first
draft of the Rhodesian idea. It begins in characteristic
fashion thus, with the exception of some passages omitted or
summarised : —

"It often strikes a man to inquire what is the
chief good in life ; to one the thought comes that
it is a happy marriage, to another great wealth,
and as each seizes on the idea, for that he more
or less works for the rest of his existence. To
myself, thinking over the same question, the wish
came to me to render myself useful to my country.
I then asked the question, How could I ?" He
then discusses the question, and lays down the
following dicta. " I contend that we are the first
race in the world, and that the more of the world
we inhabit the better it is for the human race. I
contend that every acre added to our territory
means the birth of more of the English race who
otherwise would not be brought into existence.

HIS WRITINGS. 59

Added to this, the absorption of the greater
portion of the world under our rule simply means
the end of all wars." He then asks himself what
are the objects for which he should work, and
answers his question as follows : " The furtherance
of the British Empire, for the bringing of the
whole uncivilised world under British rule, for
the recovery of the United States, for the making
the Anglo-Saxon race but one Empire. What a
dream ! but yet it is probable. It is possible."

" I once heard it argued — so low have we
fallen — in my own college, I am sorry to own it,
by Englishmen, that it was a good thing for us
that we have lost the United States. There are
some subjects on which there can be no argument,
and to an Englishman this is one of them. But
even from an American's point of view just

picture what they have lost All this we

have lost and that country has lost owing to
whom ? Owing to two or three ignorant, pig-
headed statesmen in the last century. At their
door is the blame. Do you ever feel mad, do
you ever feel murderous ? I think I do with
these men."

The rest of his paper is devoted to a dis-
cussion as to the best means of attaining these
objects.

After recalling how the Roman Church
utilises enthusiasm, he suggests the formation of
a kind of secular Church for the extension of
British Empire which should have its members
in every part of the British Empire working with
one object and one idea, who should have its
members placed at our universities and our
schools, and should watch the English youth
passing through their hands. Mr. Rhodes then
proceeded to sketch the kind of men upon whose

Photograph, by]

Earl Grey.

. H. Mills.

HIS WRITINGS. 6 r

help such a Church could depend, how they
should be recruited, and how they would work to
" advocate the closer union of England and her

colonies, to crush all disloyalty and every move-
ment for the severance of our Empire." He
concludes : " I think that there are thousands
now existing who would eagerly grasp at the
opportunity."

Even at this early date, it will be perceived, the primary
idea which found its final embodiment in the will of 1899 had
been sufficiently crystallised in his mind to be committed to
paper. It was later in the same year of 1877 that he drew up
his first will. This document he deposited with me at the
same time that he gave me his " political will and testament."
It was in a sealed envelope, and on the cover was written a
direction that it should not be opened until after his death.
That will remained in my possession, unopened, until
March 27th, 1902, when I opened it in the presence of Mr.
Hawksley. It was dated Kimberley, September igth, 1877.
It was written throughout in his own handwriting. It opened
with a formal statement that he gave, devised, and bequeathed
all his estates and effects of every kind, wherever they might
be, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies for the time
being, and to Sidney Godolphin Alexander Shippard (who died
almost immediately after Mr. Rhodes ; Mr. Shippard was then
Attorney-General for the province of Griqualand West), giving
them full authority to use the same for the purposes of extend-
ing British rule throughout the world, for the perfecting of a
system of emigration from the United Kingdom to all lands
where the means of livelihood are attainable by energy, labour,
and enterprise, the consolidation of the Empire, the restoration
of the Anglo Saxon unity destroyed by the schism of the
eighteenth century, the representation of the colonies in Par-
liament, " and finally, the foundation of so great a Power as to
hereafter render wars impossible and to promote the best
interests of humanity."

This first will contains the master thought of Rhodes's life,
the thought to which he clung with invincible tenacity to his

62 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

dying day. The way in which he expressed it in these first
writings which we have from his hand was " the furtherance of
the British rule " ; but in after years his ideas were broadened,
especially in one direction — viz., the substitution of the ideal
of the unity of the English-speaking race for the extension of
the British Empire throughout the world. To the under-
graduate dreamer in the diamond diggings it was natural that
the rapidly growing power of the United States and the
ascendency which it was destined to have as the predominant
partner in the English-speaking world was not as clear as it
became to him when greater experience and a wider outlook
enabled him to take a juster measure of the relative forces
with which he had to deal.

This first will was, however, speedily revoked. Mr.
Rhodes seems to have soon discovered that the Colonial
Secretary for the time being was of all persons the last to whom
such a trust should be committed. He then executed his
second will, which was a very informal document indeed. It
was written on a single sheet of notepaper, and dated 1882.
It left all his property to Mr. N. E. Pickering, a young man
employed by the De Beers Company at Kimberley. Mr.
Rhodes was much attached to him, and nursed him through
his last illness. How much or how little he confided to Mr.
Pickering about his ultimate aims I do not know, nor is
there any means of ascertaining the truth, for Mr. Pickering
has long been dead, and his secrets perished with him.
Mr. Rhodes, in making the will in his favour, wrote him
a note, saying the conditions were very curious, "and can
only be carried out by a trustworthy person, and I consider
you one."

After the death of Mr. Pickering Mr. Rhodes executed a
third will in 1888, in which, after making provision for his
brothers and sisters, he left the whole of the residue of his
fortune to a financial friend, whom I will call " X.," in like
manner expressing to him informally his desires and aspira-
tions. This will was in existence when I first made the
acquaintance of Mr. Rhodes.

All these wills were framed under the influence of the idea
which dominated Mr. Rhodes's imagination. He aimed at
the foundation of a Society composed of men of strong

HIS WRITINGS. 63

convictions and of great wealth, which would do for the unity
of the English-speaking race what the Society of Jesus did for
the Catholic Church immediately after the Reformation.

The English-speaking race stood to Mr. Rhodes for all
that the Catholic Church stood to Ignatius Loyola. Mr.
Rhodes saw in the English-speaking race the greatest instru-
ment yet evolved for the progress and elevation of mankind —
shattered by internal dissensions and reft in twain by the
declaration of American Independence, just as the unity of the
Church was destroyed by the Protestant Reformation. Unlike
Loyola, who saw that between Protestants and Catholics no
union was possible, and who therefore devoted all his energies
to enable the Catholics to extirpate their adversaries, Mr.
Rhodes believed that it was possible to secure the reunion of
the race. Loyola was an out-and-out Romanist. He took
sides unhesitatingly with the Pope against the Reformers. The
attitude of Mr. Rhodes was altogether different. He was'
devoted to the old flag, but in his ideas he was American, and
in his later years he expressed to me his unhesitating readiness
to accept the reunion of the race under the Stars and Stripes if
it could not be obtained in any other way. Although he had
no objection to the Monarchy, he unhesitatingly preferred the
American to the British Constitution, and the text-book which
he laid down for the guidance of his novitiates was a copy of
the American Constitution.

Imagine the soul of an Erasmus in the skin of a Loyola
ready to purchase the unity of Christendom by imposing upon
the Pope the theses which Luther nailed upon the church
door at Wittenberg, and you have some idea of the standpoint
of Mr. Rhodes

He was for securing union, if necessary, by means which at
first sight were little calculated to promote unity. If the
American Constitution was his political text-book, his one
favourite expedient for inducing Americans to recognise the
need for unity was the declaration of a tariff war waged by
means of differential duties upon imports from those English-
speaking commonwealths which clapped heavy duties on British
goods.

Finding that I sympathised with his ideas about English-
speaking reunion and his Society — although I did not see eye

64 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

to eye with him about the tariff war — Mr. Rhodes superseded
the will, which he had made in 1888, on a sheet of notepaper,
which left his fortune to " X.," by a formal will, in which the
whole of his real and personal estate was left to " X." and to
" W. Stead, of the REVIEW OF REVIEWS." This will, the
fourth in order, was signed in March, 1891.

On bidding me good-bye, after having announced the
completion of this arrangement, Mr. Rhodes stated that when
he got to Africa he would write out his ideas, and send
them to me. It was in fulfilment of this promise that
he sent me the letter dated August igth and September 3rd,.
1891. It was written by him at his own suggestion in
order that I might publish it in literary dress in his name
as an expression of his views. I carried out his instruc-
tions, and published the substance of this letter, with
very slight modifications necessary to give it the clothing
that he desired, as a manifesto to the electors at the General
Election of 1895. Mr. Rhodes's personality, however, at that
time had not loomed sufficiently large before the mind of the
British public for the expression of his opinions to excite the
interest and attention of the world. But when I published
the original draft after his death it was received every-
where as throwing altogether new light upon Mr. Rhodes's
character.

Mr. Rhodes's political ideas were thus written out by
him in one of the very few long letters which he ever wrote
to anyone, just before his departure from Kimberley to
Mashonaland in the autumn of 1891. The communication
takes the shape of a resiime of a long conversation which I had
had with him just before he left London for the Cape. Despite
a passage which suggests that I should sub-edit it and dress up
his ideas, I think the public will prefer to have these rough,
hurried, and sometimes ungrammatical notes exactly as
Mr. Rhodes scrawled them off rather than to have them
supplied with " literary clothing " by anyone else : —

Please remember the key of my idea discussed
with you is a Society, copied from the Jesuits
as to organisation, the practical solution a diffe-
rential rate and a copy of the United States

Pltotograph by\

[£. H. Mills.

Mr. Alfred Beit

66 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

Constitution, for that is Home Rule or Federation,
and an organisation to work this out, working in
the House of Commons for decentralisation,
remembering that an Assembly that is responsible
for a fifth of the world has no time to discuss the
questions raised by Dr. Tanner or the important
matter of Mr. O'Brien's breeches, and that the
labour question is an important matter, but
that deeper than the labour question is the
question of the market for the products of
labour, and that, as the local consumption
(production) of England can only support
about six millions, the balance depends on the
trade of the world.

That the world with America in the forefront
is devising tariffs to boycott your manufactures,
and that this is the supreme question, for I believe
that England with fair play should manufacture
for the world, and, being a Free Trader, I believe
until the world comes to its senses you should
declare war — I mean a commercial war with those
who are trying to boycott your manufactures—
that is my programme. You might finish the war
by union with America and universal peace, I
mean after one hundred years, and a secret society
organised like Loyola's, supported by the accumu-
lated wealth of those whose aspiration is a desire
to do something, and a hideous annoyance created
by the difficult question daily placed before their
minds as to which of their incompetent relations
they should leave their wealth to. You would
furnish them with the solution, greatly relieving
their minds and turning their ill-gotten or inherited
gains to some advantage.

I am a bad writer, but through my ill-con-
nected sentences you can trace the lay of my ideas,
and you can give my idea the literary clothing

Photograph by]

Mr. L. L. Michell.

68 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

that is necessary. I write so fully because I am
off to Mashonaland, and I can trust you to respect
my confidence. It is a fearful thought to feel that
you possess a patent, and to doubt whether your
life will last you through the circumlocution of the
forms of the Patent Office. I have that inner
conviction that if I can live I have thought out
something that is worthy of being registered at
the Patent Office ; the fear is, shall I have the
time and the opportunity ? And I believe, with
all the enthusiasm bred in the soul of an inventor,
it is not self-glorification I desire, but the wish to
live to register my patent for the benefit of those
who, I think, are the greatest people the world has
•ever seen, but whose fault is that they do not
know their strength, their greatness, and their
destiny, and who are wasting their time on their
minor local matters, but being asleep do not know
that through the invention of steam and electricity,
and in view of their enormous increase, they must
now be trained to view the world as a whole, and
not only consider the social questions of the British
Isles. Even a Labouchere who possesses no
sentiment should be taught that the labour ot
England is dependent on the outside world, and
that as far as I can see the outside world, if he
does not look out, will boycott the results of
English labour. They are calling the new country
Rhodesia, that is from the Transvaal to the
southern end of Tanganyika ; the other name is
Zambesia. I find I am human and should like to
be living after my death ; still, perhaps, if that
name is coupled with the object of England every-
where, and united, the name may convey the dis-
covery of an idea which ultimately led to the
cessation of all wars and one language throughout
the world, the patent being the gradual absorption

FACSIMILE PAGES OF ONE OF MR. RHODES'S LETTERS
TO W. T. STEAD.

.<?JL<r

^fn-^c^i

/z^-^7 y ~ ^^<

* *

X^ * ' -

HIS WRITINGS. 73

of wealth and human minds of the higher order to
the object.*

What an awful thought it is that if we had not
lost America, or if even now we could arrange
with the present members of the United States
Assembly and our House of Commons, the peace
of the world is secured for all eternity ! We
could hold your federal parliament five years at
Washington and five at London. The only thing
feasible to carry this idea out is a secret one
(society) gradually absorbing the wealth of the
world to be devoted to such an object. There is
Hirsch with twenty millions, very soon to cross
the unknown border, and struggling in the dark
to know what to do with his money ; and so one
might go on ad infinitum.

Fancy the charm to young America, just
coming on and dissatisfied — for they have filled

* Mr. Sidney Low, formerly editor of the St. James's Gazette,
writing in the Nineteenth Century for May, 1902, thus summarises
the cardinal doctrines which formed the staple of Mr. Rhodes's
conversation with him : — " First, that insular England was quite
insufficient to maintain, or even to protect, itself without the
assistance of the Anglo-Saxon peoples beyond the seas of Europe.
Secondly, that the first and greatest aim of British statesmanship
should be to find new areas of settlement, and new markets for the
products that would, in due course, be penalised in the territories
and dependencies of all our rivals by discriminating tariffs.
Thirdly, that the largest tracts of unoccupied or undeveloped lands
remaining on the globe were in Africa, and therefore that the
most strenuous efforts should be made to keep open a great part of
that continent to British commerce and colonisation. Fourthly,
that as the key to the African position lay in the various Anglo-
Dutch States and provinces, it was imperative to convert the
whole region into a united, self-governing federation, exempt from
meddlesome interference by the home authorities, but loyal to the
Empire, and welcoming British enterprise and progress. Fifthly,
that the world was made for the service of man, and more
particularly of civilised, white, European men, who were most
capable of utilising the crude resources of Nature for the promotion
of wealth and prosperity. And, finally, that the British Constitu-
tion was an absurd anachronism, and that it should be remodelled
on the lines of the American Union, with federal self-governing
Colonies as the constituent States.

F 2

74 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

up their own country and do not know what to
tackle next — to share in a scheme to take the
government of the whole world ! Their present
president is dimly seeing it, but his horizon is
limited to the New World north and south, and
so he would intrigue in Canada, Argentina, and
Brazil, to the exclusion of England. Such a brain
wants but little to see the true solution ; he is still
groping in the dark, but is very near the dis-
covery. For the American has been taught the
lesson of Home Rule and the success of leaving
the management of the local pump to the parish
beadle. He does not burden his House of Com-
mons with the responsibility of cleansing the
parish drains. The present position in the English
House is ridiculous. You might as well expect
Napoleon to have found time to have personally
counted his dirty linen before he sent it to the
wash, and re-counted it upon its return. It would
have been better for Europe if he had carried out
his idea of Universal Monarchy ; he might have
succeeded if he had hit on the idea of granting
self-government to the component parts. Still, I
will own tradition, race, and diverse languages
acted against his dream ; all these do not exist as
to the present English-speaking world, and apart
from this union is the sacred duty of taking the
responsibility of the still uncivilised parts of the
world. The trial of these countries who have
been found wanting — such as Portugal, Persia,
even Spain — and the judgment that they must
depart, and, of course, the whole of the South
American Republics. What a scope and what a
horizon of work, at any rate, for the next two
centuries, the best energies of the best people in
the world ; perfectly feasible, but needing an
organisation, for it is impossible for one human

Photograph by\

IE. H. Mills.

Dr. Jameson.

76 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

atom to complete anything, much less such an idea
as this requiring the devotion of the best souls of
the next 200 years. There are three essentials :
— (i) The plan duly weighed and agreed to. (2)
The first organisation. (3) The seizure of the
wealth necessary.

I note with satisfaction that the committee
appointed to inquire into the McKinley Tariff
report that in certain articles our trade has fallen
off 50 per cent, and yet the fools do not see that
if they do not look out they will have England
shut out and isolated with ninety millions to feed
and capable internally of supporting about six
millions. If they had had statesmen they would
at the present moment be commercially at war
with the United States, and they would have
boycotted the raw products of the United States
until she came to her senses. And I say this
because I am a Free Trader. But why go on
writing ? Your people do not know their great-
ness ; they possess a fifth of the world and do not
know that it is slipping from them, and they spend
their time on discussing Parnell and Dr. Tanner,
the character of Sir C. Dilke, the question of
compensation for beer-houses, and omne /toe genus.
Your supreme question at the present moment is
the seizure of the labour vote at the next election.
Read the A ustraiian Bulletin (New South Wales),
and see where undue pandering to the labour vote
may lead you ; but at any rate the eight-hour
question is not possible without a union of the
English-speaking world, otherwise you drive your
manufactures to Belgium, Holland, and Germany,
just as you have placed a great deal of cheap
shipping trade in the hands of Italy by your
stringent shipping regulations which they do not
possess, and so carry goods at lower rates.

HIS WRITINGS. 77

Here this political Will and Testament abruptly breaks off.
It is rough, inchoate, almost as uncouth as one of Cromwell's
speeches, but the central idea glows luminous throughout.
Mr. Rhodes has never to my knowledge said a word, nor has
he ever written a syllable, that justified the suggestion that he
surrendered the aspirations which were expressed in this letter
of 1891. So far from this being the case, in the long dis-
cussions which took place between us in the last years of his
life, he re-affirmed as emphatically as at first his unshaken
conviction as to the dream— if you like to call it so — or vision,
which had ever been the guiding star of his life. How pathetic
to read to-day the thrice expressed foreboding that life would
not be spared him to carry out his great ideal. But it may be
as Lowell sang of Lamartine : —

To carve thy fullest thought, what though
Time was not granted ? Aye in history,

Like that Dawn's face which baffled Angelo,
Left shapeless, grander for its mystery,

Thy great Design shall stand, and day

Flood its blind front from Orients far away.

Cecil Rhodes as a boy.

(By kind permission of Wm. Blackicood and Sons.)

CHAPTER II.— HIS CONVERSATIONS.

SINCE Mr. Rhodes'_s death I have had opportunities of
making a close inquiry among those who have been most
intimately associated with him from his college days until his
death, with this result. I found that to none of them had
Mr. Rhodes spoken as fully, as intimately, and as frequently
as he talked to me concerning his aims and the purposes to
which he wished his wealth to be devoted after his death.
This is not very surprising, because from the year 1891
till the year 1899 I was designated by Mr. Rhodes in
the wills which preceded that of 1899 as the person
who was charged with the distribution of the whole of
his fortune. From 1891-3 I was one of two, from 1893
to 1899 one of three, to whom his money was left; but
I was specifically appointed by him to direct the application of
his property for the promotion of the ideas which we shared
in common.

I first made the acquaintance of Mr. Rhodes in 1889.
Although that was the first occasion on which I met him, or was
aware of the ideas which he entertained, he had already for some
years been one of the most enthusiastic of my readers — indeed,
ever since I succeeded to the direction of the Pall Mall Gazette
(when Mr. Morley entered Parliament in the year 1883), and
began the advocacy of what I called the Imperialism of re-
sponsibility as opposed to Jingoism, which has been the note
of everything that I have said or written ever since. It was in
the Pall Mall Gazette that I published an article on Anglo-
American reunion which brought me a much-prized letter from
Russell Lowell, in which he said : " It is a beautiful dream,
but it's none the worse on that account. Almost all the best
things that we have in the world to-day began by being
dreams." It was in the Pall Mall Gazette in those days that I
conducted a continuous and passionate apostolate in favour of
a closer union with the Colonies. It is amusing to look back
at the old pages, and to find how the preservation of the trade
route from the Cape to the Zambesi was stoutly contended for

8o POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

in the Pall Mall Gazette, and cynically treated by the Times.
The ideal of associating the Colonies with us in the duty of
Imperial Defence was another of the fundamental doctrines of
what we called in those days " the Gospel according to the
Pall Mall Gazette" It was in the Pall Mall that we published
" The Truth about the Navy," and the Pall Mall, more than
any other paper, was closely associated with the heroic tragedy
of General Gordon's mission to Khartoum.

Cecil Rhodes, brooding in intellectual solitude in the
midst of the diamond diggers of Kimberley, welcomed with
enthusiasm the Pall Mall Gazette. He found in it the crude
ideas which he had embodied in his first will expressed from
day to day with as great an enthusiasm as his own. and with
a much closer application to the great movements which were
moulding the contemporary history of the world. It is
probable (although he never mentioned this) that the close
personal friendship which existed between General Gordon
and himself constituted a still closer tie between him and the
editor of the journal whose interview had been instrumental in
sending Gordon to Khartoum, and who through all the dark
and dreary siege was the exponent of the ideas and the
champion of the cause of that last of the Paladins. Whatever
contributory causes there may have been, Mr. Rhodes always
asserted that his own ideas had been profoundly modified and
moulded by the Pall Mall Gazette.

But, as I said, it was not until 1889 that I was first intro-
duced to him. As I had been interested in the expansion
of British power in Africa and in the preservation of the
trade route which rendered the northern expansion possible, I
had constantly exerted myself in support of the ideas of Mr.
Mackenzie, who was in more or less personal antagonism to the
ideas of Mr. Rhodes. Mr. Mackenzie and Mr. Rhodes both
wished to secure the northern territory. Mr. Rhodes believed
in thrusting the authority of Cape Colony northward, and Mr.
Mackenzie was equally emphatic about placing Bechuanaland
under the direct authority of the Crown. This difference of
method, although it produced much personal estrangement, in
no way affected their devotion to their common ideal. As I
was on Mr. Mackenzie's side, I had nothing to do with Mr.
Rhodes ; and when Sir Charles Mills (then Cape Agent-

HIS CONVERSATIONS. Si

General) first proposed that I should meet him, I was so far
from realising what it meant that I refused. Sir Charles Mills
repeated his invitation with a persistency and an earnestness
which overcame my reluctance; I abandoned a previous
engagement, and accepted his invitation to lunch, for the
purpose of meeting Mr. Rhodes.

Mr. Rhodes, said Sir Charles Mills, wished to make my
acquaintance before he returned to Africa. I met Mr. Rhodes
at the Cape Agency, and was introduced to him by Sir Charles
Mills on April 4th, 1889. After lunch, Sir Charles left us
alone, and I had a three hours' talk with Mr. Rhodes. To say
that I was astonished by what he said to me is to say little.
I had expected nothing — was indeed rather bored at the idea
of having to meet him — and vexed at having to give up my
previous engagement. But no sooner had Sir Charles Mills
left the room than Mr. Rhodes fixed my attention by pouring
out the long dammed-up flood of his ideas. Immediately after
I left him I wrote : —

" I have never met a man who, upon broad Imperial
matters, was so entirely of my way of thinking."

On my expressing my surprise that we should be in such
agreement, he laughed and said —

" It is not to be wondered at, because I have taken my
ideas from the Pall Mall Gazette"

The paper permeated South Africa, he said, and he had met
it everywhere. He then told me what surprised me not a little,
and what will probably come to many of those who admire him
to-day with a certain shock.

He said that although he had read regularly the Pall Mall
Gazette in South Africa, it was not until the year 1885 that he
had realised that the editor of the paper, whose ideas he had
assimilated so eagerly, was a person who was capable of
defending his principles regardless of considerations of his
own ease and safety. But when in 1885 I published " The
Maiden Tribute " and went to gaol for what I had done, he
felt, " Here is the man I want — one who has not only the
right principles, but is more anxious to promote them than to
save his own skin." He tried to see me, drove up to Hollo-
way Gaol and asked to be admitted, was refused, and drove
away in a pretty fume. Lord Russell of Killowen had the

82 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

same experience, with the same result. No one can see a
prisoner without an order from the Home Office.

Mr. Rhodes did not tell me what I learned only since his
death, from Mr. Maguire, that the solitary occasion on which
he ever entered Exeter Hall was when, together with
Mr. Maguire, he attended an indignation meeting, called to
protest against my imprisonment, which was addressed, among
others, by Mrs. Josephine Butler and Mrs. Fawcett.

He left for Africa without seeing me ; but on his return in
1889 he said he would not sail until he had met me and told
me all his plans. Hence he had made Sir Charles Mills
arrange this interview in order to talk to me about them all,
and specially to discuss how he could help me to strengthen
and extend my influence as editor.

Writing to my wife immediately afcer I had left him, I
said : —

" Mr. Rhodes is my man.

" I have just had three hours' talk with him.

" He is full of a far more gorgeous idea in connection with
the paper than even I have had. I cannot tell you his scheme,
because it is too secret. But it involves millions. . . . He
expects to own, before he dies, four or five millions, all of
which he will leave to carry out the scheme of which the paper
is an integral part. . . . His ideas are federation, expansion,
and consolidation of the Empire.

" He is .... about thirty-five, full of ideas, and regarding
money only as a means to work his ideas. He believes more
in wealth and endowments than I do. He is not religious in
the ordinary sense, but has a deeply religious conception of
his duty to the world, and thinks he can best serve it by work-
ing for England. He took to me ; told me things he has told
to no other man, save X. ... It seems all like a fairy dream."

It is not very surprising that it had that appearance. Never
before or since had I met a millionaire who calmly declared
his intention to devote all his millions to carry out the ideas
which I had devoted my life to propagate.

Mr. Rhodes was intensely sympathetic, and like most
sympathetic people he would shut up like an oyster when he
found that his ideas on " deep things " which were near to his
heart moved listeners to cynicism or to sneers.

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 83

He was almost apologetic about his suggestion that his
wealth might be useful. "Don't despise money," he said.
"Your ideas are all right, but without money you can do
nothing." " The twelve apostles did not find it so," I said;
and so the talk went on. He expounded to me his ideas
about underpinning the Empire by a Society which would be
to the Empire what the Society of Jesus was to the Papacy,
and we talked on and on, upon very deep things indeed.

Before we parted we had struck up a firm friendship which
stood the strain even of the Raid and the War on his part and
of " Shall I Slay my Brother Boer ? " and " Hell Let Loose "
on mine. From that moment I felt I understood Rhodes. I,
almost alone, had the key to the real Rhodes, and I felt that
from that day it was my duty and my privilege to endeavour
to the best of my ability to interpret him to the world.

It was in 1889, at our first interview, that he expounded to
me the basis of his creed. I did not publish it till November,
1899. Although it was issued during his lifetime, it provoked
from him neither publicly nor privately any protest, criticism,
or correction.

I therefore think that my readers will be glad to be afforded
an opportunity of seeing what I 'wrote in October, 1899, which
I. reprint exactly as it was published.

HIS RELIGION.

Mr. Rhodes's conception of his duties to his fellow-men
rests upon a foundation as distinctly ethical and theistic as that
of the old Puritans. If you could imagine an emperor of old
Rome crossed with one of Cromwell's Ironsides, and the result
brought up at the feet of Ignatius Loyola, you would have an
amalgam not unlike that which men call Cecil Rhodes. The
idea of the State, the Empire, and the supreme allegiance
which it has a right to claim from all its subjects, is as fully
developed in him as in Augustus or in Trajan. But deep
underlying all this there is the strong, earnest, religious con-
ception of the Puritan. Mr. Rhodes is not, in the ordinary
sense of the word, a religious man. He was born in a rector}',
and, like many other clergymen's sons, he is no great Church-
man. He has an exaggerated idea of the extent to which
modern research has pulverised the authority of the Bible;

S4 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

and, strange though it may appear to those who only know him
as the destroyer of Lobengula, his moral sense revolts against
accepting the Divine origin of the Hebrew writings which
exult over the massacre of the Amalekites. In the doctrine
of eternal torment he is an out-and-out unbeliever., Upon
many questions relating to the other world his one word is
Agnostic — -" I do not know." But on the question of Hell he
is quite sure he knows, and he knows that it is not true.
Indeed, it is his one negative dogma, which he holds with
astonishing vigour and certitude. It conflicts with his funda-
mental conception of the nature of things. Whatever may be
•or may not be, that cannot be.

HIS MEDITATIONS.

It may appear strange to those who only realise Mr. Rhodes
as a successful empire-builder, or a modern Midas, at whose
touch everything turns to gold, to hear that the great Afri-
kander is much given to pondering seriously questions which,
in the rush and hurry of modern life, most men seldom give
themselves time to ask, much less to answer. But as
Mohammed spent much time in the solitude of his cave before
he emerged to astonish the world with the revelation of the
Koran, so Cecil Rhodes meditated much in the years while
he was washing dirt for diamonds under the South African
stars. He is still a man much given to thinking over things.
He usually keeps three or four subjects going at one time,
and he sticks to them. At present he has on his mind the
development of Rhodesia, the laying of the telegraph line to
Tanganyika, the Cape to Cairo railway, and the ultimate
federation of South Africa. These four objects preoccupy
him. He does not allow himself to be troubled with corre-
spondence. He receives letters and loses them sometimes, but
answers them never.

In the earlier days, before he was known, he kept his
thoughts to himself. But he thought much ; and the outcome
of his thinking is making itself felt more and more every dayin
the development of Africa.

THE SEARCH FOR THE SUPREME IDEAL.

When Mr. Rhodes was an undergraduate at Oxford, he
was profoundly impressed by a saying of Aristotle as to

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 85

the importance of having an aim in life sufficiently lofty to
justify your spending your life in endeavouring to reach it.
He went back to Africa wondering what his aim in life should
be, knowing only one thing : that whatever it was, he had not
found it. For him that supreme ideal was still to seek. So
he fell a-thinking. The object to which most of those who
surrounded him eagerly dedicated their lives was the pursuit
of wealth. For that they were ready to sacrifice all. Was it
worth it ? Did the end, even when attained, justify the
expenditure of one's life ? To answer that question he looked
at the men who had succeeded, who had made their pile, who
had attained the goal which he was proposing he should make
his own. What he saw was men who, with hardly an, excep-
tion, did not know what use to make of the wealth they had
spent their lives in acquiring. They had encumbered them-
selves with money-bags, and they spent all their time in taking
care of them. Other object in life they seemed to have none.
Wealth, for which they had given the best years of their life,
was only a care, not a joy — a source of anxiety, not a sceptre
of power. " If that is all, it is not good enough," thought
Rhodes.

IN POLITICS.

Then his thoughts turned to politics. Why not devote his
life to the achievement of a political career ? He might suc-
ceed if he tried. Rhodes seldom doubts his capacity to
succeed when he tries. Again he looked at the ultimate. In
South Africa the top of the tree was represented by the Cape
Premiership. What kind of men are Cape Premiers ? He had
known some of them. They were men who had alternate
spells of office and opposition. Most of them were medio-
crities ; few of them had power, even when they held place.
They were dependent for their political existence upon the
goodwill of followers whom they had to wheedle or cajole.
The position did not seem enviable ; so once more Rhodes
decided " it was not good enough." The true goal was still
to seek.

IN THE CHURCHES.

His mind turned to religion. Was there to be found in
the Churches a goal worth the devotion of a life ? Perhaps — if

86 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

it were true. But what if it were not ? He thought much of
the marvellous career of Loyola, the man who underpinned
the tottering foundations of the Catholic Church, and re-estab-
lished them upon the rock of St. Peter, which had been shaken
by the spiritual dynamite of the Reformation. There was a
work worthy the best man's life. But nowadays who could
believe in the Roman, or even in the Christian, creed ? *
Every day some explorer dug up in Palestine some old inscrip-
tion which made havoc with a Bible text — a conclusion which
the reports of the Palestine Exploration Fund certainly do not
bear out, but that need not be discussed here. Mr. Rhodes
was a Darwinian rather than a Christian. He knew there was
no Hell. How could he devote himself to the service of the

* Mr. Rhodes, in laying the foundation stone of a Presbyterian
chapel at Woodstock, near Cape Town, in 1900, expressed himself
as follows : — " You have asked me to come here because you
recognise that my life has been work. Of course I must say frankly
that I do not happen to belong to your particular sect in religion.
We all have many ideals, but I may say that when we come abroad
we all broaden. We broaden immensely, and especially in this
spot, because we are always looking on that mountain, and there
is immense breadth in it. That gives us, while we retain our
individual dogmas, immense breadth of feeling and consideration
for all those who are striving to do good work, and perhaps
improve the condition of humanity in general. . . . The fact
is, if I may take you into my confidence, that I do not care to
go to a particular church even on one day in the year when I use
my own chapel at all other times. I find that up the mountain one
gets thoughts, what you might term religious thoughts, because
they are thoughts for the betterment of humanity, and I believe
that is the best description of religion, to work for the betterment
of the human beings who surround us. This stone I have laid will
subsequently represent a building, and in that building thoughts
will be given to the people with the intention of raising their minds
and making them better citizens. That is the intention of the
laying of this stone. I will challenge any man or any woman, however
broad their ideas may be, who object to go to church or chapel, to
say they would not sometimes be better for an hour or an hour and
a half in church. I believe they would get there some ideas con-
veyed to them that would make them better human beings. There
are those who, throughout the world, have set themselves the task
of elevating their fellow-beings, and have abandoned personal
ambition, the accumulation of wealth, perhaps the pursuit of art,
and many of those things that are deemed most valuable. What is
left to them ? They have chosen to do what ? To devote their
whole mind to make other human beings better, braver, kindlier,
more thoughtful, and more unselfish, for which they deserve the
praise of all men."

The House in which Cecil Rhodes was born.

(By kind permission of fVtn. Blackwood and Sons. )

88 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

Catholic Church ? As to the others, these were merely vulgar
fractions of a fraction. He respected them all with the wide
tolerance of a Roman philosopher, but they neither kindled his
enthusiasm nor commanded his devotion. The old faiths were
dying out. If his life were to have a worthy goal, it must be
among the living, not among the dead, with the future rather
than the past.

A DARWINIAN IN SEARCH OF GOD.

Scr he went on digging for diamonds, and musing, as he
digged, on the eternal verities, the truth which underlies all
phenomena: He was a Darwinian ; he believed in evolution.
But was it reasonable to believe that the chain of sentient
existences which stretched unbroken from the marine Ascidean
to man, stopped abruptly with the human race ? " Was it not
at least thinkable that there are Intelligences in the universe as
much my superior in intellect as I am superior to the dog ? "
" Why should man be the terminus of the process of evolu-
tion ? " So he reasoned, as all serious souls have reasoned long
before Darwin was heard of.

Reincarnation, the possibility of an existence prior to this
mortal life, did not interest him. " Life is too short, after all,"
he used to say, " to worry about previous lives. From the
cradle to the grave — what is it ? Three days at the seaside.
Just that and nothing more. But although it is only three days,
we must be doing something. I cannot spend my time throw-
ing stones into the water. But what is worth while doing ? "
Then upon him there grew more and more palpably real, at
least as a possibility, that the teachings of all the seers, of all
the religions, were based on solid fact, and that after all there
was a God who reigned over all the children of men, and who,
moreover, would exact a strict account for all the deeds which
they did in the body. He combated the notion ; but the
balance of authority was against him. All religions, in alh
times — surely the universal instinct of the race had something
to justify it !

A FIFTY PER CENT. CHANCE.

Mr. Rhodes argued the matter out in his cool, practical
way, and decided the question for himself once for all. He

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 89

did not surrender his agnostic position, but he decided that it
was at least an even chance that there might be a God.
Further than that he did not go. A fifty-per-cent. chance
that there is a God Almighty is very far removed from the
confident certainty of " I know that my Redeemer liveth."
But a fifty-per-cent. chance God fully believed in is worth more
as a factor in life than a forty-per-cent. faith in the whole
Christian creed.

" WHAT WCULDST THOU HAVE ME TO DO ? "

Mr. Rhodes had no sooner, ciphered out his fifty-per-cent.
chance than he was confronted with the reflection, " If there
be a God, of which there is an even chance, what does He want
me to do, if so be that He cares anything about what I do ? "
For so the train of thought went on. " If there be a God, and
if He do care, then the most important thing in the world for
me is to find out what He wants me to do, and then go and do
it." * But how was he to find it out ? It is a problem which

* I have been somewhat severely taken to task by Mr. Bramwell
Booth for what he regards as my failure to do full justice to the
religious side of Mr. Rhodes's character. By way of making
amends, I quote the following extracts from the remarks made
by the General and by Mr. W. Bramwell Booth himself after
Mr. Rhodes's death. General Booth, writing in the War Cry of
April 5th, 1902, said : —

In the course of my wanderings I have been privileged to
meet with many of the class of individuals who are said to be the
moving spirits of the world, but very few outside the pale of
Christian and philanthropic circles have impressed and interested
me more than did Cecil Rhodes.

The first time we met was on the occasion of my first visit to
South Africa. Mr. Rhodes was then Premier of Cape Colony.
That was in the year 1891. He received me at the Parliament
Buildings.

We understood one another at once, and plunged into a dis-
cussion of my proposal for the founding of " An Over-trie- Sea
Colony." " Our objects, you see, differ," said he. " You are set
on filling the world with the knowledge of the Gospel. My ruling
purpose is the extension of the British Empire." Then, laying his
ringer on a great piece of the map showing the country, part of
which was then known as Mashonaland, but which is now called
after his name, he went on to say, " If this part of South Africa
would suit you, I can give you whatever extent of land you may
require."

Years passed away. In 1895 I was once more in South Africa.
" If," said Mr. Rhodes, " the gold turns out to be a success, the

G 2

90 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

puzzled the ancients. " Canst thou by searching find out
God ? " Are not His ways past finding out ? Perhaps yes ;
perhaps no. They " did not know everything down in Judee."
Anyhow, Mr. Rhodes was much too practical and thorough-

markets will be all right for the corn and vegetables and fruit which
you and your colony will produce. And if you think the locality
will be suitable, you had better send some capable officers to survey
the country. They can select the district most likely to answer
your purposes, and you shall have what land is necessary."

This offer Mr. Rhodes made in the most deliberate manner
twice over. Of course, he knew what I wanted to do. I wanted
the country for the people, and he wanted the people for the
country. So far, we were one, perhaps not much further.

As the interview closed, something was said by me bearing on
his spiritual interests. I forget what I said, but it was something
straight, personal, and it was understood by him at once. While
he did not assent to my remarks by any passing pretensions to
religion, he was serious and thoughtful, and when I said I should
pray for him, he responded, " Yes, that was good." Prayer, he
considered, was useful, acting as a sort of time-table, bringing before
the mind the duties of the day, and pulling one up to face the obliga-
tions for their discharge. A little incident that occurred some years
afterwards showed that my remarks made an indelible impression
on his mind.

Our next meeting was in England. In company with Lord
Loch he wanted to see the Hadleigh Farm Colony, and an appoint-
ment was made for a visit. He specially desired that I should
accompany him, and, of course, I gladly agreed. My son (the chief
of the staff) was with us. We went down together.

After the journey down we lunched together, and wandered over
the colony and discussed its principal features. Mr. Rhodes was
interested in everything. Nothing struck me more than his inquiring
spirit. " What is this ? " and " What is it for ? " and " How does it
answer?" or "Who is this?" "Where does he come from?"
" What is he doing ? " " What are you going to do with him ? " were
the questions constantly on his lips, and to say that he was interested
is saying very little. The whole thing evidently took a strong hold
of him.

That night Colonel Barker accompanied him to his hotel, where
he again talked over the things he had seen, and assured the
Colonel that he would see all the social work we had in the way of
shelters and elevators, and homes, and everything else of the kind
before he returned to Africa.

In 1899 Mr. Rhodes made a speech at the Mansion House in
support of the army. He said : " The work of your organisation
is a practical one. (Loud applause). The Cabinet, of which I was
a member, was appealed to for a contribution for the army in that
part of the world. Statistics were called for, and we gathered that
you offered homes for waifs and strays, and those, perhaps, who
had fallen in the colony, and who, when released from prison, had

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 91

going a man not to set himself to the task of ascertaining the
will of God towards us — if so be that there be a God, of which,
as aforesaid, the Rhodesian calculation is that the chances are
even, for or against.

another chance in life through the medium of your organisation.
We learnt that they were provided with a home when they left the
prison, and obtained a fresh start in life. The practical view which
Parliament took of that work was to vote a grant in their favour,
and that vote has been continued ever since.

" I have been told by Mr. Bramwell Booth that you meet here
at times with opposition. I have even been told by members of
other organisations that they object to the details of your methods.
I have been told that objection has been taken to the use of the
bands, and military titles of your officers, but I do know this, that
in my own Church there are many disputes as to details — (a laugh)
— disputes as to the use of incense, the use of the confessional, the
lighting and non-lighting of candles, and as to the wearing of
embroidered garments — (laughter) — but, after all (and Mr. Rhodes
waved his hand as to emphasise his contempt for these narrow-
minded objectors), let us put these details aside. (Loud applause.)

" What do we recognise ? We recognise this, that they are not
doing the work of the ordinary human being. Be he an officer of
this organisation, a minister of my Church, or a priest of the Roman
Catholic Church, they all have a higher object. They give their
whole lives for the bettering of humanity. I can simply give you
my word that, living in a remote portion of Her Majesty's dominions,
I gladly give my testimony to the good and practical work which
you do in that part of the world that I have adopted as my home."
(Loud and continued applause.)

Mr. W. Bramwell Booth, writing in the War Cry, adds his
testimony as follows : —

But it was during that day on the colony that I really got a
glimpse of the true man. He was down with us at the General's
invitation. They had met before in South Africa, and Mr. Rhodes
was evidently much taken with the General. I have heard it said
that he was a silent, taciturn man, cold, stiff, and difficult to talk
to. I saw nothing of the sort. Before we had been seated for five
minutes in the railway carriage on the outward journey, he and
the General were talking as hard as they could go about the poor
and the miserable of the world, about South Africa and the native
races, about the prospects of our work in Rhodesia— it was before
this awful war — and the chances of our getting help to do some-
thing for the peoples on the Zambesi. Mr. Rhodes seemed to eater
fully into the General's ideas as to the value of the people to the
country before all else, and the importance of caring for their moral
and spiritual, as well as their material well-being. After a while,
the General proposed prayer, and, kneeling down in the compart-
ment, sought God's blessing on our visitor. Mr. Rhodes bowed
his head, and closed his eyes with much reverence ; and when the

Photograph by\

\E. H. Mills.

Mr. and Mrs. Maguire.

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 93

WHAT IS HE DOING ?

Mr. Rhodes, as I have said, is a Darwinian. He believes
in the gospel of evolution, of the survival of the fittest, of
progress by natural selection. With such outfit as this, he set
himself in his diamond-hole to attempt the solution of the
oldest of all problems. " If there be a God, and if He cares
anything about what I do, then," said Rhodes to himself, " I
think I shall not be far wrong in concluding that He would
like me to do pretty much as He is doing — to work on the
same lines towards the same end. Therefore, the first thing
for me to do is to try to find out what God — if there be a God
— is doing in this world ; what are His instruments, what lines
is He going on, and what is He aiming at. The next thing,
then, for me to do is to do the same thing, use the same instru-
ments, follow the same lines, and aim at the same mark to the
best of my ability."

Having thus cleared the way, Mr. Rhodes put on his
thinking cap and endeavoured to puzzle out answers to these
questions. It sounds somewhat profane, the way in which
he puts it ; but in its essence, is it not the way in which

General took his seat again, held out his hand to him in the midst
of a silence, which to me seemed eloquent of thoughts too deep for
words. Later in the day I had a close talk with him about eternal
things. I have no idea what religious training or experience he
may have had in the past, but one thing was quite clear to me, he
had a lofty conception of duty, and while conscious of his great
influence, knew that it was bestowed on him in the providence of
God, to Whom he was accountable for all.

Mr. Rhodes was delighted with his day at Hadleigh, and said
so. He went everywhere, saw everything, asked innumerable
questions, interviewed officers and colonists, tasted the soup, chal-
lenged the price of the coal, offered his advice on the value of
certain fruit trees, and chaffed me unmercifully about an old
portable engine which ought, no doubt, to have been disposed of
long ago, but which our poverty had induced us to keep going. He
was much impressed by some of the colonists, and could not believe
at first that these fine brawny fellows could ever have been what,
alas ! we knew only too well to have been the case. The General
requested him to speak to one or two, and he was delighted, and
showed it in the most unaffected manner.

When we were separating that night at Liverpool Street Station,
he said to me, " Ah ! You and the General are right ; you have the
best of me after all. I am trying to make new countries ; you are
making new men"

94- POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

all earnest souls, each according to his own light, have
endeavoured to probe the mystery of the universe ? Is not
the supreme profanity not the use of mundane dialect to
describe the process, but rather the failure to put the question
at all ?

(l) THE DIVINE AREA OF ACTION.

The first thing that impressed Mr. Rhodes, as the result of
a survey of the ways of God to man, is that the Deity must
look at things on a comprehensive scale. If Mr. Rhodes
thinks in continents, his Maker must at least think in planets.
In other words, the Divine plan must be at least co-extensive
with the human race. If there be a God at all who cares
about us, He cares for the whole of us, not for an elect few in
a corner. Whatever instrument He uses must be one that is
capable of influencing the whole race. Hence the range of
the instrument, or, as a Papist would say, the catholicity of the
Church, is one of the first credentials of its Divine origin and
authority. Hole-and-corner plans of salvation, theological or
political, are out of court. If we can discover the traces of
the Divine plan, it must be universal, and that agency or
constitution which most nearly approximates to it in the
universality of its influence bears the Divine trade-mark.

(2) THE DIVINE METHOD.

This conception of the Divine credentials seemed to
Mr. Rhodes to be immediately fatal to the pretensions of all
the Churches. They may be all very good in their way,*

* Mr. Rhodes was emphatically of opinion that they were all
good in their way. The Rev. A. P. Loxley, writing to the Times,
says : — " When so much is being said as to Mr. Rhodes's attitude
towards religion it is worth remembering what he did and said
with regard to education in Rhodesia. His plan was (and it had
the Bishop's full approval) that for half an hour every morning the
ministers of each Church or denomination should come and teach
their special dogmas to the children of the members of their
congregation. Presiding at the prize-giving of St. John's, Bulawayo,
last autumn, he said : — ' In England a Board school is not bound
to have any religion. I think it is a mistake, just as I think it is a
mistake in Australia that they have excluded history and religion
from their schools. I think it is an absolute mistake, because,
after all, the child at school is at that period of its life when it is
most pliable to thoughts, and if you remove from it all thought of
religion I do not think you make it a better human being. There

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 95

but one and all are sectional. The note of catholicity is
everywhere lacking. Even the Roman Catholic but touches
a decimal of the race. Besides, all the Churches are but of
yesterday. They belong to the latest phase of human evolu-
tion. What Mr. Rhodes was after was something older and
more universal. He found it in the doctrine of evolution.
Here, at least, was a law or uniform method of Divine
procedure which in point of view of antiquity left nothing to
be desired, and which at this present moment is universally
active among all sentient beings. What is the distinctive
feature of that doctrine? The perfection of the species,
attained by the elimination of the unfit ; the favourable
handicapping of the fit. The most capable species survives,
the least capable goes to the wall. The perfecting of the
fittest species among the animals, or of races among men, and
then the conferring upon the perfected species or race the
title-deeds of the future ; that seemed to Mr. Rhodes, through
his Darwinian spectacles, the way in which God is governing
His world, has governed it, and will continue to govern it, so
far as we can foresee the future.

(3) THE DIVINE INSTRUMENT.

The planet being postulated as the area of the Divine
activity, and the perfecting of the race by process of natural
selection, and the struggle for existence being recognised as the
favourite instruments of the Divine Ruler, the question imme-
diately arose as to which race at the present time seems most
likely to be the Divine instrument in carrying out the Divine
idea over the whole of this planet. The answer may seem to
Chauvinists obvious enough. But Mr. Rhodes is not a
Chauvinist. He was conducting a serious examination into a
supremely important question, and he would take nothing for
granted. There are various races of mankind — the Yellow, the

is no doubt but that it is during the period of youth that you get
those impressions which afterwards dominate your whole life. I
am quite clear that a child brought up with religious thoughts
makes a better human being. I am quite sure to couple the
ordinary school teaching with some thoughts of religion is better
than dismissing religion from within the walls of the school.' " —
Natal Diocesan Magazine.

96 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

Black, the Brown, and the White. If the test be numerical,
the Yellow race conies first. But if the test be the area of the
world and the power to control its destinies, the primacy of the
White race is indisputable. The Yellow race is massed thick
on one half of a single continent: the White exclusively occupies
Europe, practically occupies the Americas, is colonising
Australia, and is dominating Asia. In the struggle for exist-
ence the White race had unquestionably come out on top.

The White race being thus favourably handicapped by the
supreme Handicapper, the next question was which of the
White races is naturally selected for survival — which is proving
itself most fit in the conditions of its environment to defeat
adverse influences and to preserve persistently its distinctive
type?

(4) THE DIVINE IDEAL.

At this point in the analysis Mr. Rhodes dropped for the
moment the first line of inquiry to take up another, which
might lead him more directly to his goal. What is it that God
—if there be a God — is aiming at ? What is the ultimate aim
of all this process of evolution ? What is the Divine ideal
towards which all creation presses, consciously or uncon-
sciously? To find out the ultimate destination of sentient
creatures may be difficult or even impossible ; but the only
clue which we have to the drift of the Divine action is to note
the road by which He has led us hitherto, to see how far we
have got already. Then we may be in a position to infer,
with some degree of probability, the route that has still to be
travelled. If, therefore, we wish to see where we are tending,
the first thing to do is to examine those who are in advance.
We do not go back to the ape, the Bushman, or the Pigmy to
see the trend of evolution. We go rather to the foremost of
mankind, the most cultured specimens of the civilised race,
the best men, in short, of whom we have any records or
knowledge since history began. What these exceptionally
— it may be prematurely — evolved individuals have attained is
a prophecy of what the whole phalanx of humanity may be
destined to reach. They are the highwater mark of the race
up till now. Progress will consist in bringing mankind up to
their level.

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 97

THE THREEFOLD TEST: JUSTICE — LIBERTY PEACE.

Proceeding further in his examination of the foremost and
most highly evolved specimens of the race, Mr. Rhodes
found them distinguished among their fellows by certain moral
qualities which enable us to form some general conception as
to the trend of evolution. Contemplating the highest realised
standard of human perfection, Mr. Rhodes formed the idea
that the cue to the Divine purpose was to discover the race
which would be most likely to universalise certain broad
general principles. " What," asked Mr. Rhodes, " is the
highest thing in the world ? Is it not the idea of Justice ?
I know none higher. Justice between man and man — equal,
absolute, impartial, fair play to all ; that surely must be the
first note of a perfected society. But, secondly, there must be
Liberty, for without freedom there can be no justice. Slavery
in any form which denies a man a right to be himself, and to
use all his faculties to their best advantage, is, and must
always be, unjust. And the third note of the ultimate towards
which our race is bending must surely be that of Peace, of the
industrial commonwealth as opposed to the military clan or
fighting Empire." Anyhow, these three seemed to Mr. Rhodes
sufficient to furnish him with a metewand wherewith to measure
the claims of the various races of the world to be regarded as
the Divine instrument of future evolution. Justice, Liberty,
and Peace — these three. Which race in the world most
promotes, over the widest possible area, a state of society
having these three as corner-stones ?

Who is to decide the question ? Let all the races vote and
see what they will say. Each race will no doubt vote for itself,
but who receives every second vote ? Mr. Rhodes had no
hesitation in arriving at the conclusion that the English race
— the English-speaking man, whether British, American,
Australian, or South African — is the type of the race which
does now, and is likely to continue to do in the future, the most
practical, effective work to establish justice, to promote liberty,
and to ensure peace over the widest possible area of the planet.

QUOD ERAT DEMONSTRANDUM !

"Therefore," said Mr. Rhodes to himself in his curious
way, "if there be a God, and He cares anything about what I

98 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

do, I think it is clear that He would like me to do what He is
doing Himself. And as He is manifestly fashioning the English-
speaking race as the chosen instrument by which He will bring
in a state of society based upon Justice, Liberty and Peace,
He must obviously wish me to do what I can to give as much
scope and power to that race as possible. Hence," so he
concludes this long argument, " if there be a God, I think that
what He would like me to do is to paint as much of the map
of Africa British red as possible, and to do what I can
elsewhere to promote the unity and extend the influence of the
English-speaking race."

Mr. Rhodes had found his longed-for ideal, nor has he
ever since then had reason to complain that it was not
sufficiently elevated or sufficiently noble to be worth the
devotion of his whole life.

The passage in Aristotle which exercised so much influence
upon the Oxford undergraduate was his definition of virtue,
" Virtue is the highest activity of the soul living for the highest
object in a perfect life." That, he said, had always seemed
to him the noblest rule to follow, and he made it his rule from
the first. I kept no written notes of that memorable conver-
sation. But the spirit and drift of our talk the following
extract from a letter which I wrote to Mr. Rhodes three
months later may suffice to illustrate : —

" I have been thinking a great deal since I first saw you
about your great idea " (that of the Society, which he certainly
did not take from the Pall Mall Gazette), " and the more I
think the more it possesses me, and the more I am shut up to
the conclusion that the best way in which I can help towards
its realisation is, as you said in a letter to me last month, by
working towards the paper. ... If, as it seems to me, your
idea and mine is in its essence the undertaking according to
our lights to rebuild the City of God and reconstitute in the
nineteenth century some modern equivalent equipped with
modern appliances of the Mediaeval Church of the ninth cen-
tury on a foundation as broad as Humanity, then some pre-
liminary inspection of the planet would seem almost indis-
pensable."

Any immediate action in this direction, however, was post-
poned until he made a success of Mashonaland. He wrote,

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 99

" If we made a success of this, it would be doubly easy to carry
out the programme which I sketched out to you, a part of which
would be the paper."

So he wrote from Lisbon on his way out. A year later
(November 25th, 1890) he wrote :—

" My dear Stead, — I am getting on all right, and you must
remember that I am going on with the same ideas as we dis-
cussed after lunch at Sir Charles Mills'. ... I am sorry I
never met Booth. I understand what he is exactly. . . . When
I come home again I must meet Cardinal Manning, but I am
waiting until I make my Charter a success before we attempt
our Society — you can understand."

By the time this letter reached me I was leaving the Pall
Mall Gazette and preparing for the publication of the first
number of the REVIEW OF REVIEWS. It was an enterprise in
which Mr. Rhodes took the keenest interest. The first number
was issued on January i5th, 1891. He regarded it as a prac-
tical step towards the realisation of his great idea, the reunion
of the English-speaking world through the agency of a central
organ served in every part of the world by affiliated Helpers.

This interest he preserved to the last. He told me with
great glee when last in England how he had his copy smuggled
into Kimberley during the siege at a time when martial law for-
bade its circulation, and although he made wry faces over some
of my articles, he was to the end keenly interested in its success.

After this explanation I venture to inflict upon my readers
some extracts from the opening address " To all English-
speaking Folk," which appeared in the first number of the
REVIEW OF REVIEWS. Possibly they may read it to-day with
more understanding of its significance, and of what lay behind
in the thought of the writer. Mr. Rhodes regarded it, he
used to say, as "an attempt to realise our ideas," for after the
first talk with him when he touched upon these " deep things,"
it was never " my ideas " or " your ideas," but always " our
ideas." Bearing that in mind, glance over a few brief extracts
from the manifesto with which this periodical was launched
into the world : —

To ALL ENGLISH-SPEAKING FOLK.

There exists at this moment no institution which even aspires to be to
the English-speaking world what the Catholic Church in its prime was to

ioo POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

the intelligence of Christendom. To call attention to the need for such an
institution, adjusted, of course, to the altered circumstances of the New
Era. to enlist the co-operation of all those who will work towards the
creation of some such common centre for the inter-communication of ideas,
and the universal diffusion of the ascertained results of human experience
in a form accessible to all men, are the ultimate objects for which this
REVIEW has been established.

We shall be independent of party, because, having a very clear and
intelligible faith, we survey the struggles of contending parties from the
standpoint of a consistent body of doctrine, and steadily seek to use all
parties for the realisation of our ideals.

These ideals are unmistakably indicated by the upward trend of human
progress and our position in the existing economy of the world. Among
all the agencies for the shaping of the future of the human race none
seem so potent now and still more hereafter as the English-speaking man.
Already he begins to dominate the world. The Empire and the Republic
comprise within their limits almost all the territory that remains empty for
the overflow of the world. Their citizens, with all their faults, are leading
the van of civilisation, and if any great improvements are to be made in
the condition of mankind, they will necessarily be leading instruments in
the work. Hence our first starting-point will be a deep and almost awe-
struck regard for the destinies of the English-speaking man. To use
Milton's famous phrase, faith in "God's Englishmen" will be our inspiring
principle. To make the Englishman worthy of his immense vocation, and,
at the same time, to help to hold together and strengthen the political ties
which at present link all English-speaking communities save one in a
union which banishes all dread of internecine war, to promote by every
means a fraternal union with the American Republic, to work for the
Empire, to seek to strengthen it, to develop it, and, when necessary, to
extend it, these will be our plainest duties.

Imperialism within limits defined by common sense and the Ten
Commandments is a very different thing from the blatant Jingoism which
some years ago made the very name of empire stink in the nostrils of all
decent people. The sobering sense of the immense responsibilities of our
Imperial position is the best prophylactic for the frenzies of Jingoism.
And in like manner the sense of the lamentable deficiencies and imperfec-
tions of " God's Englishmen," which results from a strenuous attempt to
make them worthy of their destinies, is the best preservative against that
odious combination of cant and arrogance which made Heine declare that
the Englishman was the most odious handiwork of the Creator. To interpret
to the English-speaking race the best thought of the other peoples is one
among the many services which we would seek to render to the Empire.

We believe in God, in England, and in Humanity. The English-
speaking race is one of the chief of God's chosen agents for executing
coming improvements in the lot of mankind. If all those who see that
could be brought into hearty union to help all that tends to make that
race more fit to fulfil its providential mission, and to combat all that
hinders or impairs that work, such an association or secular order would

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 101

constitute a nucleus or rallying point for all that is most vital in the
English world, the ultimate influence of which it would be difficult to
overrate.

This is the highest of all the functions to which we aspire. Our
supreme duty is the winnowing out by a process of natural selection, and
enlisting for hearty service for the commonweal all those who possess
within their hearts the sacred fire of patriotic devotion to their country.

Who is there among the people who has truth in him, who is no self-
seeker, who is no coward, and who is capable of honest, painstaking effort
to help- his^auntry ? For such men we would search as for hid treasures.
They are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and it is the duty
and the privilege of the wise man to see that they are like cities set on the
hill which cannot be hid.

The great word which has now to be spoken in the ears of the world is
that the time has come when men and women must work for the salvation
of the State with as much zeal and self-sacrifice as they now work for the
salvation of the individual. To save the country from the grasp of demons
innumerable, to prevent this Empire or this Republic becoming an incarnate
demon of lawless ambition and cruel love of gold, how many men or
women are willing to spend even one hour a month or a year? The
religious side of politics has not yet entered the minds of men.

What is wanted is a revival of civic faith, a quickening of spiritual
life in the political sphere, the inspiring of men and women with the
conception of what may be done towards the salvation of the world, if
they will but bring to bear upon public affairs the same spirit of self-
sacrificing labour that so many thousands manifest in the ordinary drudgery
of parochial and evangelistic work. It may, no doubt, seem an impossible
dream.

That which we really wish to found among our readers is in very truth
a civic church, every member of which should zealously — as much as it lay
within him — preach the true faith, and endeavour to make it operative in
the hearts and heads of its neighbours. Were such a church founded it
would be as a great voice sounding out over sea and land the summons to
all men to think seriously and soberly of the public life in which they are
called to fill a part. Visible in many ways is the decadence of the Press.
The mentor of the young democracy has abandoned philosophy, and stuffs
the ears of its Telemachus with descriptions of Calypso's petticoats and the
latest scandals from the Court. All the more need, then, that there should
be a voice which, like that of the muezzin from the Eastern minaret, would
summon the faithful to the duties imposed by their belief.

This, it may be said, involves a religious idea, and when religion is
introduced harmonious co-operation is impossible. That was so once ; it
will not always be the case.

To establish a periodical circulating throughout the English-speaking
world, with its affiliates or associates in every town, and its correspondents
in every village, read as men used to read their Bibles, not to waste an idle
hour, but to discover the will of God and their duty to man, whose staff
and readers alike are bound together by a common faith and a readiness to

102 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

do common service for a common end — that, indeed, is an object for which
it is worth while to make some sacrifice. Such a publication so supported
would be at once an education and an inspiration ; and who can say,
looking at the present condition of England and of America, that it is not
needed ?

That was my idea as I expressed it. That was Mr.
Rhodes's idea also. It was " our idea " — his idea of the secret
society — broadened and made presentable to the public
without in any way revealing the esoteric truth that lay
behind. Mr. Rhodes recognised this and eagerly wel-
comed it.

Mr. Rhodes returned to England in 1891, and the day
after his arrival he came round to Mowbray House and talked
for three hours concerning his plans, his hopes, and his ideas.
Fortunately, immediately after he left I dictated to my secretary
a full report of the conversation, which, as usual, was very
discursive and ranged over a great number of subjects of the
day. It was in this conversation, after a close and prolonged
argument, that he expressed his readiness to adopt the course
from which he had at first recoiled — viz., that of securing the
unity of the English-speaking race by consenting to the
absorption of the British Empire in the American Union if it
could not be secured in any other way. In his first dream he
clung passionately to the idea of British ascendency — this was
in 1877 — in the English-speaking union of which he then
thought John Bull was to be the predominant partner. But in
1891, abandoning in no whit his devotion to his own country,
he expressed his deliberate conviction that English-speaking
reunion was so great an end in itself as to justify even the
sacrifice of the monarchical features and isolated existence
of the British Empire. At our first conversation in 1889 he
had somewhat demurred to this frank and logical acceptance of
the consequences of his own principles; but in 1891 all
hesitation disappeared, and from that moment the ideal of
English-speaking reunion assumed its natural and final place
as the centre of his political aspirations. He resumed very
eagerly his conversation as to the realisation of his projects.
He was in high spirits, and expressed himself as delighted with
the work which I had done in founding the REVIEW of
REVIEWS, and especially with the effort which was made to

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 103

secure the co-operation of the more public-spirited persons of
our way of thinking in every constituency in the country,
which formed the inspiration of the Association of Helpers.

" You hive begun," said he, " to realise my idea. In the
REVIEW and the Association of Helpers you have made the
beginning which is capable afterwards of being extended so as
to carry out our idea."

We then discussed the persons who should be taken into
our confidence. At that time he assured me he had spoken of
it to no one, with the exception of myself and two others.
He authorised me to communicate with two friends, now
members of the Upper House, who were thoroughly in
sympathy with the gospel according to the Pall Mall Gazette,
and who had been as my right and left hands during my
editorship of that paper.

He entered at considerable length into the question of the
disposition of his fortune after his death. He said that if he
were to die then the whole of his money was left absolutely at
the disposition of " X."

" But," he said, •' the thought torments me sometimes
when I wake at night that if I die all my money will pass into
the hands of a man who, however well-disposed, is absolutely
incapable of understanding my ideas. I have endeavoured to
explain them to him, but I could see from the look on his face
that it made no impression, that the ideas did not enter his
mind, and that I was simply wasting my time."

Mr. Rhodes went on to say that his friend's son was even
less sympathetic than the father, and he spoke with pathos of
the thought of his returning to the world after he was dead
and seeing none of his money applied to the uses for the sake
of which he had made his fortune.

Therefore, he went on to say, he proposed to add my name
to that of " X.," and to leave at the same time a letter which
would give " X." to understand that the money was to be dis-
posed of by me, in the assured conviction that I should employ
every penny of his millions in promoting the ideas to which
we had both dedicated our lives.

I was somewhat startled at this, and remarked that " X."
would be considerably amazed when he found himself saddled
with such a joint-heir as myself, and I suggested to Mr.

104 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

Rhodes that he had better explain the change which he was
making in his will to " X." while he was here in London.

" No," he said, " my letter will make it quite plain
to him."

"Well," I said, "but there may be trouble. When the
will is opened, and he discovers that the money is left really
at my disposition, instead of at his, there may be ructions."

" I don't mind that," said Mr. Rhodes ; "I shall be
gone then."

The will then drawn up was revoked in 1893.

In 1892 Mr. Rhodes was back in London, and again the
question of the disposition of his fortune came up, and he
determined to make a fifth will. Before he gave his final
instructions he discussed with me the question whether there
should not be a third party added, so that we should be
three. We discussed one or two names, and he afterwards
told me that he had added Mr. Hawksley as a third party.
His reasons for doing this were that he liked Mr. Hawksley,
and had explained, expounded, and discussed his views with
him, and found him sympathetic. He went on to say :—

" I think it is best that it should be left so. You know my
ideas, and will carry them out. But there will be a great deal
of financial administration that " X." will look after. Many
legal questions will be involved, and these you can safely
leave in the hands of Mr. Hawksley."

•And so it was that when the fifth will, drafted in 1892, was
signed by Mr. Rhodes in 1893, " X.," Mr. Hawksley and myself
were left sole executors and joint-heirs of Mr. Rhodes's fortune,
with the understanding that I was the custodian of the
Rhodesian ideas, that I was to decide as to the method in
which the money was to be used according to these ideas,
subject to the advice of "X." on financial matters, and of
Mr. Hawksley on matters of law.

In 1894 Mr. Rhodes came to England and again discussed
with me the working of the scheme, reported to me his
impressions of the various Ministers and leaders of Opposition
whom he met, discussing each of them from the point of view
as to how far he would assist in carrying out " our ideas."
We also discussed together various projects for propaganda,
the formation of libraries, the creation of lectureships, the

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 105

despatch of emissaries on missions of propagandism throughout
the Empire, and the steps to be taken to pave the way for the
foundation and the acquisition of a newspaper which was to be
devoted to the service of the cause. There was at one time a
discussion of a proposal to endow the Association of Helpers
with the annual income of ^"5,000, but Mr. Rhodes postponed
the execution of this scheme until he was able to make the
endowment permanent. He was heavily drawn upon in the
development of Rhodesia ; he did not wish to realise his
securities just then, but he entered with the keenest interest
into all these projects.

" I tell you everything," he said to me ; " I tell you all my
plans. You tell me all your schemes, and when we get the
northern country settled we shall be able to carry them out.
It is necessary," he added, " that I should tell you ail my ideas,
in order that you may know what to do if I should go. But,"
he went on, " I am still full of vigour and life, and I don't
expect that I shall require anyone but myself to administer my
money for many years to come."

It was at an interview in January, 1895, that Mr. Rhodes
first announced to me his intention to found scholarships. It
is interesting to compare the first draft of his intentions with
the final form in which it was given in his will of 1899 and its
codicil of 1900. He told me that when he was on the Red
Sea in 1893 a thought suddenly struck him that it would be a
good thing to create a number of scholarships tenable at a
residential English University, that should be open to the
various British Colonies. He proposed to found twelve
scholarships every year, each tenable for three years, of the
value of ^250 a year, to be held at Oxford. He said he
had added a codicil to his will making provision for these
scholarships, which would entail an annual charge upon his
estate of about ^£10,000 a year. He explained that there
would be three for French Canadians and three for British.
Each of the Australasian Colonies, including Western Australia
and Tasmania, was to have three — that is to say, one each
year ; but the Cape, because it was his own Colony, was to
have twice as many scholarships as any other Colony. This,
he said, he had done in order to give us, as his executors and
heirs, a friendly lead as to the kind of thing he wanted done

H 2

io6 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

with his money. The scholarships were to be tenable at
Oxford.

When Mr. Rhodes left England in February, 1895, he was
at the zenith of his power. Alike in London and in South
Africa, every obstacle seemed to bend before his determined
will. It was difficult to say upon which political party he could
count with greater confidence for support. He was indepen-
dent of both parties, and on terms of more or less cordial
friendship with one or two leaders in both of the alternative
Governments. In Rhodesia the impis of Lobengula had been
shattered, and a territory as large as the German Empire
had been won for civilisation at a cost both in blood and
treasure which is in signal contrast to the expenditure incurred
for such expeditions when directed from Downing Street.
When he left England everything seemed to point to his being
able to carry out his greater scheme, when we should be able
to have undertaken the propagation of " our ideas " on a wider
scale throughout the world.

And then, upon this fair and smiling prospect, the abortive
conspiracy in Johannesburg of the Raid cast its dark and
menacing shadow over the scene. No one in all England had
more reason than I to regret the diversion of Mr. Rhodes's
energies from the path which he had traced for himself. Who
can imagine to what pinnacle of greatness Mr. Rhodes might
not have risen if the natural and normal pacific development
of South Africa, which was progressing so steadily under
his enlightened guidance, had not been rudely interrupted
by the fiasco for which Mr. Rhodes was not primarily
responsible.

It was what seemed to me the inexplicable desire of Mr.
Rhodes to obtain Bechuanaland as a jumping-off place which
led to the first divergence of view between him and myself on
the subject of South African policy. The impetuosity with
which his emissaries pressed for the immediate transfer of
Bechuanaland to the Chartered Company made me very uneasy,
and I resolutely opposed the cession of the jumping-off place
subsequently used by Dr. Jameson as a base for his Raid.
Mr. Rhodes was very wroth, and growled like an angry bear at
what he regarded as my perversity in objecting to a cession of
territory for which I could see no reason, but which he thought

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 107

it ought to have been enough for me that he desired it. My
opposition was unfortunately unavailing.

In the two disastrous years which followed the Raid,
although I saw Mr. Rhodes frequently, we talked little or
nothing about his favourite Society. More pressing questions
preoccupied our attention. I regretted that Mr. Rhodes was
not sent to gaol, and told him so quite frankly.

For reasons which need not be stated, as they are
sufficiently obvious, no attempt was made to bring Mr.
Rhodes to justice. His superiors were publicly whitewashed,
while the blow fell heavily upon his subordinates. When Mr.
Rhodes came back to " face the music " he fully expected that
he would be imprisoned, and had even planned out a course
of reading by which he hoped to improve the enforced sojourn
in a convict cell.

Through all that trying time I can honestly say that I did
my level best to help my friend out of the scrape in which he
had placed himself without involving the nation at the same
time in the disaster which subsequently overtook it. My
endeavour to induce all parties to tell the truth and to
shoulder the modicum of blame attaching to each for his
share of the conspiracy failed. Mr. Rhodes was offered up-
as a scapegoat. But although differing so widely on the vital
question with which was bound up the future of South Africa,
my relations with Mr. Rhodes remained as affectionate and
intimate as ever. The last time I saw him before the war
broke out we had a long talk, which failed to bring us to
agreement. Mr. Rhodes said that he had tried his hand at
settling the Transvaal business, but he had made such a mess
of it that he absolutely refused to take any initiative in the
matter again. The question was now in the hands of Lord
Milner, and he appealed to me to support my old colleague,
for whose nomination as High Commissioner I was largely
responsible. I said that while I would support Milner in
whatever policy he thought fit to pursue, so long as he con-
fined himself to measures of peace, I could not believe, even
on his authority, that the situation in South Africa would justify
an appeal to arms. Mr. Rhodes replied : —

" You will support Milner in any measure that he may take
short of war. I make no such limitation. I support Milner

io8 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

absolutely without reserve. If he says peace, I say peace ; if
he says war, I say war. Whatever happens, I say ditto to
Milner."

In justice to Mr. Rhodes it must be said that he was
firmly convinced that President Kruger would yield,- and that
no resort to arms would be necessary. He went to South
Africa and I went to the Hague, and we did not meet again
until after the siege of Kimberley.

It was in July, 1899, before the outbreak of the war, that
Mr. Rhodes revoked his will of 1891, and substituted for it
what is now known as his last will and testament. It is
probable that the experience which we had gained since the
Raid of the difficulties of carrying out his original design led
him to recast his will to give it a scope primarily educational,
instead of leaving the whole of his estate to me and my joint-
heirs to be applied as I thought best for the furtherance of
his political idea. Anyhow, the whole scheme was recast.
Trustees were appointed for carrying out various trusts, all of
which, however, did not absorb more' than half of the income
of his estate. The idea which found expression in all his
earlier wills reappeared solely in the final clause appointing his
trustees and executors joint-heirs of the residue of the estate.

In selecting the executors, trustees and joint-heirs Mr.
Rhodes substituted the name of Lord Grey for that of "X.,"
re-appointed Mr. Hawksley and myself, strengthened the
financial element by adding the names of Mr. Beit and
Mr. Michell, of the Standard Bank of South Africa, and then
<:ro\vned the edifice by adding the name of Lord Rosebery.
As the will stood at the beginning of the war, there were six
executors, trustees, and joint-heirs — to wit, Mr. Hawksley and
myself, representing the original legatees, Lord Rosebery,
Lord Grey, Mr. Beit, and Mr. Michell.

Many discussions took place during the framing of this will.
In those preliminary discussions I failed to induce Mr. Rhodes
to persevere in his original intention to allow the scholarships
to be held equally at Oxford and Cambridge, and therein I
think Mr. Rhodes was right. I was more fortunate, however,
in inducing him to extend the scope of his scholarships so as
to include in the scheme the States and Territories of the
American Union, but he refused to open his scholarships to

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 109

women. He was for some time in difficulty as to how to
provide for the selection of his scholarships, for he rejected
absolutely all suggestions which pointed to competitive exami-
nation pure and simple. A suggestion made by Professor
Lindsay, of Glasgow, that the vote of the boys in the school
should be decisive as to the physical and moral qualities of the
competitors which Mr. Rhodes desiderated was submitted by
me to Mr. Rhodes, and incorporated by him in the body of
the will. The precise proportion of the marks to be allowed
under each head was not finally fixed until the following year.
So far as I was concerned, although still intensely interested
in Mr. Rhodes's conceptions, the change that was then made
immensely reduced my responsibility. To be merely one of
half a dozen executors and trustees was a very different
matter from being charged with the chief responsibility of
using the whole of Mr. Rhodes's wealth for the purposes of
political propaganda, which, if Mr. Rhodes had been killed by
the Matabele or had died any time between 1891 and 1899, it
would have been my duty to undertake.

When, after the raising of the siege of Kimberley, Mr.
Rhodes returned to London, I had a long talk with him at the
Burlington Hotel in April, 1900. Mr. Rhodes, although more
affectionate than he had ever been before in manner, did not
in the least disguise his disappointment that I should have
thrown myself so vehemently into the agitation against the
war. It seemed to him extraordinary ; but he charitably con-
cluded it was due to my absorption in the Peace Conference
at the Hague. His chief objection, which obviously was
present to his mind when, nearly twelve months later, he
removed me from being executor, was not so much the fact
that I differed from him in judgment about the war, as that I
was not willing to subordinate my judgment to that of the
majority of our associates who were on the spot. He said : —

"That is the curse which will be fatal to our ideas —
insubordination. Do not you think it is very disobedient of
you ? How can our Society be worked if each one sets him-
self up as the sole judge of what ought to be done ? Just look
at the position here. We three are in South Africa, all of us
your boys " — (for that was the familiar way in which he always
spoke) — " I myself, Milner and Garrett, all of whom learned

Photograph by\

{Frederick Hollyer.

Mr. F. E. Garrett.

HIS CONVERSATIONS, in

their politics from you. We are on the spot, and we are
unanimous in declaring this war to be necessary. You have
never been in South Africa, and yet instead of deferring to
the judgment of your own boys, you fling yourself into a
violent opposition to the war. I should not have acted in
that way about an English question or an American question.
No matter how much I might have disliked the course which
you advised, I would have said, ' No, I know Stead ; I trust
his judgment, and he is on the spot. I support whatever
policy he recommends.' "

" It's all very well," I replied, " but you see, although I
have never been in South Africa, I learned my South African
policy at the feet of a man who was to me the greatest
authority on the subject. He always impressed upon me
one thing so strongly that it became a fixed idea in my mind,
from which I could never depart. That principle was that you
could not rule South Africa without the Dutch, and that if
you quarrelled with the Dutch South Africa was lost to the
Empire. My teacher," I said, " whose authority I reverence
— perhaps you know him ? His name was Cecil John
Rhodes. Now I am true to the real, aboriginal Cecil
John Rhodes, and I cannot desert the principles which he
taught me merely because another who calls himself by the
same name advises me to follow an exactly opposite policy."

Mr. Rhodes laughed and said : " Oh, well, circumstances
have changed. But after all that does not matter now. The
war is ending, and that is a past issue."

Mr. Rhodes went back to Africa and I did not see him
again till his return last year. In January, 1901, he had
added a codicil to his will, removing my name from the list of
executors, fearing that the others might find it difficult to work
with me. He wrote me at the same time saying I was " too
masterful " to work with the other executors.*

* On this subject Mr. B. F. Hawksley, solicitor to Mr. Rhodes,
writes : — " It is quite true that Mr. Rhodes associated my friend
Mr. W. T. Stead wfth those upon whom he has imposed the task
of carrying out his aspirations. In the far back days when Mr.
Stead expounded in the Pall Mall Gazette the common interests
of the English-speaking peoples his acquaintance was sought by
Mr. Rhodes — an acquaintanceship which ripened into a close
intimacy and continued to the last. Mr. Rhodes recognised in

ii2 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

In the October of that year he added Lord Milner's name
to the list of executors and joint-heirs, and in March, on his
deathbed, he added the name of Dr. Jameson to the list of
trustees.

Looking back over this whole episode of my career — an
episode now definitely closed — I remember with gratitude the
help which I was able to give to Mr. Rhodes, and I regret that
in the one great blunder which marred his career my opposi-
tion failed to turn him from his purpose. Both in what I
aided him to do and in what I attempted to prevent his doing,
I was faithful to the great ideal for the realisation of which we
first shook hands in 1889.

Apart from the success or failure of political projects,
I have the satisfaction of remembering the words which
Mr. Rhodes spoke in April, 1900, when the war was at its
height. Taking my hand in both of his with a tenderness
quite unusual to him, he said to me : —

""Now I want you to understand that if, in future, you
should unfortunately feel yourself compelled to attack me
personally as vehemently as you have attacked my policy in
this war, it will make no difference to our friendship. I am
too grateful to you for all that 1 have learned from you to
allow anything that you may write or say to make any change
in our relations."

How few public men there are who would have said that !
And yet men marvel that I loved him — and love him still.

That Mr. Rhodes is no more with us may seem to some a
conclusive reason why all hope should be abandoned of realis-
ing his great idea. To me it seems that the death of the
Founder in the midst of his unaccomplished labours is a trumpet

Mr. Stead one who thought as he did, and who had a marvellous
gift enabling him to clothe with a literary charm ideas they both
held dear — even as the diamond-cutter will by his work expose the
brilliancy of the rough diamond. As Mr. Rhodes frequently said
to me and to others, including Mr. Stead himself, the friendship of
the two men was too strong to be broken by passing differences on
the South African war. The removal of Mr. Stead's name from
Mr. Rhodes's testament arose from other causes quite appreciated
by Mr. Stead, and which did honour alike to both men. More it is
unnecessary for me to say, except that I shall be grateful if this
plain statement can receive the widest publicity."

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 113

call to all those who believed in him to redouble their exertions
to carry out his vast designs for the achievement of the unity of
the English-speaking race.

What is the Rhodesian-ideal ? It is the promotion of racial
unity on the basis of the principles embodied in the American
Constitution. The question of differential tariff is a matter of
detail. The fundamental principle is, as Mr. Rhodes very
clearly saw, the principle of the American Constitution ; and,
as he bluntly said, that is Home Rule. As an Empire we must
federate or perish.

Mr. Rhodes saw this as clearly as Lord Rosmead, who
was the first author of the saying ; but it is to be feared
that many of those who call themselves Rhodesians have
not yet accepted the very first principle of Mr. Rhodes's
doctrine.

So this day they apologise for the subscription to Mr.
Parnell's Home-Rule Chest as if it were a lamentable aberra-
tion. It was, on the contrary, the very keynote of the whole
Rhodesian gospel. No man had less sympathy with the high-
flying Imperialists of Downing Street than had Mr. Rhodes.
No man more utterly detested the favourite maxims of military
satraps and Crown G overnors. When he came home from the
siege of Kimberley he told me that he expected " in two years'
time to be the best abused man in South Africa by the
Loyalists." " I am delighted to hear it," I replied ; " but
how will that come about ? " " Because," he said, " these
people have set their minds upon trampling on the Dutch, and
I am not going to allow it. For you cannot govern South
Africa by trampling on the Dutch."

Mr. Rhodes was a Home Ruler first and an Imperialist
afterwards. He realised more keenly than most of his
friends that the Empire was doomed unless the principle of
Home Rule was carried out consistently and logically through-
out the whole of the King's dominions. " If you want to
know how it is to be done," he once said to me, " read the
Constitution and the history of the United States. The
Americans have solved the problem. It is no new thing that
need puzzle you. English-speaking men have solved it, and
for more than a hundred years have tested its working. Why
not profit by their experience ? What they have proved to

U4 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

be a good thing for them is not likely to be a bad thing
for us."

To be a Rhodesian, then, of the true stamp you must be a
Home Ruler and something more. You must be an Imperialist,
not from mere lust of dominion or pride of race, but because you
believe the Empire is the best available instrument for diffusing
the principles of Justice, Liberty, and Peace throughout the
world. Whenever Imperialism involves the perpetration of
Injustice, the suppression of Freedom, and the waging of wars
other than those of self-defence, the true Rhodesian must
cease to be an Imperialist. But a Home Ruler and Federalist,
according to the principles of the American Constitution, he
can never cease to be, for Home Rule is a fundamental
principle, whereas the maintenance and extension of the
Empire are only means to an end, and may be changed, as
Mr. Rhodes was willing to change them. If, for instance, the
realisation of the greater ideal of Race Unity could only be
brought about by merging the British Empire in the American
Republic, Mr. Rhodes was prepared to advocate that radical
measure.

The question that now arises is whether in the English-
speaking world there are to be found men of faith adequate to
furnish forth materials for the Society of which Mr. Rhodes
dreamed : —

Still through our paltry stir and strife

Glows down the wished Ideal,
And Longing moulds in clay what Life

Carves in the marble Real.

We have the clay mould of Mr. Rhodes's longed-for Society.
Have we got the stuff, in the Empire and the Republic, to
carve it in marble ?

Mr. Rhodes, like David, may have had to yield to a
successor the realisation of an ideal too lofty to be worked out
by the man who first conceived it.

" It was in my mind," said the old Hebrew monarch as he
came to die, " to build an house unto the name of the Lord
my God. But the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made great wars ;

HIS CONVERSATIONS. 115

thou shalt not build an house unto My name, because thou
hast shed much blood upon the earth in My sight. Behold, a
son shall be bora to thee, who shall be a man of rest. . . .
he shall build an house for My name."

So it may be that someone coming after Mr. Rhodes may
prosper exceedingly in founding the great Order of which
Mr. Rhodes did dream.

117

CHAPTER III.-HIS CORRESPONDENCE.

MR. RHODES was not a great letter- writer. A few of his
friends, such as Mr. Rudd, his partner in his early days, have
a copious collection of letters from Mr. Rhodes, but few public
men were ever so sparing in their correspondence. Of his
published letters there are two series which cannot be omitted
from any attempt to represent the Rhodesian ideas. The
first is the Parnell correspondence of 1888, and the other the
Schnadhorst correspondence of 1891. These are the only two
occasions on which Mr. Rhodes took a direct hand in Imperial
politics outside his own particular sphere. In both he operated
in the same way, namely, by using his wealth to put a premium
upon certain policies or orfer a reward for the repudiation of
certain heresies. It is unnecessary here to go minutely into
the genesis of the famous donation to the Irish National funds.
It is well, however, to remember that, like almost every other
colonist, Mr. Rhodes was a Home Ruler long before the adop-
tion of Home Rule as the official creed of the Liberal Party.
From 1882-84 Mr. Rhodes seems to have dallied with the idea
of standing for a seat in Parliament, nominally as member of
the Conservative Party, but really as member for South Africa.
The idea had gained sufficient substance for Sir Charles Warren
to write to Mr. Rhodes's brother (March 4th, 1884), saying,
" Your brother has great mental power for organising, and will
be a most valuable addition to the Conservative ranks."

In 1885, when Mr. Gladstone had taken the plunge for
Home Rule, Mr Rhodes seriously contemplated standing for
Parliament as Liberal candidate for the constituency in which
the Dalston property of his family was situated. On looking
at the matter more closely, however, he found that Parlia-
mentary attendance would be too great a tax upon his time.
It would be impossible for him to alternate between West-
minster and South Africa, as in the old days he divided his
life between Kimberley and Oriel College. He returned to
Africa, but continued to follow with the keenest interest the
course of Imperial politics.

n8 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

His sympathies being well known, overtures were made to
him on the part of some sympathisers with the Irish National
Party as to whether he could not be induced to contribute to
their funds. Mr. Swift MacNeill was employed as an inter-
mediary, and the result of the communications was that Mr.
Rhodes intimated his readiness to subscribe to the Home Rule
funds on condition that Mr. Parnell assented to the retention
of the Irish members at Westminster. Mr. Rhodes held that
Mr. Gladstone's first Home Rule Bill simply proposed to con-
vert Ireland into a taxed republic, without representation in
the central governing body of the Empire, thus making Home
Rule lead direct to disruption, instead of making it a stepping-
stone to federation. Mr. Rhodes entirely accepted the formula
so succinctly stated by Lord Rosmead, when he declared that
" as an Empire we must federate or perish, and the one hope
of the Empire is that the Irish may compel us to federate,
even against our will."

When Mr. Gladstone, therefore, instead of seizing the
opportunity presented by the concession of Home Rule to
introduce the principle of federalism of the British Constitu-
tion, took the fatal and false road of proposing to banish the
Irish members altogether from the assembly which still retained
the right of exacting heavy tribute from the Irish taxpayer,
Mr. Rhodes felt that an important crisis had been reached in
the history of the Empire. It was necessary for him to act,
and to act with decision. Mr. Swift MacNeilPs conversations
had revealed to him the nakedness of the Nationalist treasury.
He was solicited to subscribe to keep the Home Rule agitation
going. He saw the situation, and seized it with his characteristic
promptitude. On his return to England, Mr. Parnell called upon
Mr. Rhodes at the Westminster Palace Hotel, and a transaction
took place between them, which Mr. Rhodes always regarded as
very good business for the Empire. In his belief he succeeded
in pledging Mr. Parnell to the abandonment of the old disruptive
idea of the first Gladstonian Home Rule Bill, and his loyal
acceptance of the principle of federalism. By this arrangement
Mr. Parnell, instead of accepting the exclusion of Irish members
from Westminster and the conversion of Ireland into a taxed
republic, which would be furnished in advance with an excuse
for revolt by the familiar maxim " taxation without representa-

T2o POLITICAL A^7D RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

tion is tyranny." undertook to accept a Home Rule Bill based
upon the opposite principle of the retention of Irish members.
Mr. Rhodes wished the numbers of the Irish to be reduced
from their present figure of 103 to 34, at any rate unless he was
guaranteed the full control of the Irish police and judiciary.
At that ti me he was willing that the question of the reduction
of the Irish representation at Westminster to the figure corre-
sponding to the extent of their contribution to Imperial taxation
should be debated as an open question. He also agreed that
he would not make any opposition to a clause permitting any
self-governing colony to send representatives to the House of
Commons on the basis of the amount of their annual contribu-
tion to the Imperial exchequer.

Mr. Parnell himself said he was prepared to accept this
•cheerfully, but when pressed by Mr. Rhodes to move an
-amendment he demurred on the ground that some of his party
might object. The deal having thus been arranged in personal
interview, from which both parties emerged with a profound
respect for each other, Mr. Rhodes proceeded to embody the
.substance of their bargain in the following letter * to Mr.
Parnell :—

Westminster Palace Hotel,
London, S.W.

June i gth, 1888.

Dear Sir, — On my way to the Cape last
autumn I had the opportunity of frequent con-
versations with Mr. Swift MacNeill upon the
subject of Home Rule for Ireland. I then told

* The date of this letter is sufficient to prove the absurdity of
the popular superstition that Mr. Rhodes bought the support of the
Irish Party for the Charter by a gift of ,£10,000. At that time
there had been no application for the Charter, and Mr. Rhodes
had not then obtained the mineral concession from Lobengula
upon which the application for the Charter was based. Neither
Mr. Rhodes nor Mr. Parnell alluded to the subject, either in con-
versation or in writing. The contract between the African and the
Irishman was strictly limited to the conversion of Home Rule from
a disruptive to a federative measure. It had no relation directly
or indirectly to any of Mr. Rhodes's Irish-African schemes. The
whole story is told at length by " Vindex " in an appendix to " The
Political Life and Speeches of Mr. Cecil Rhodes," from which I
quote these letters.

HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 121

him that I had long had a sympathy with the
Irish demand for self-government, but that there
were certain portions of Mr. Gladstone's Bill
which appeared open to the gravest objections.
The exclusion of the Irish members from
Westminster seemed rightly to be considered,
both in England and the Colonies, as a step in
the direction of pure separation ; while the
tribute clauses were, on the face of them,
degrading to Ireland by placing it in the position
of a conquered province, and were opposed to
the first principles of constitutional government
by sanctioning taxation without representation.
It has been frequently stated that the hearty
acquiescence of the Irish members in these
proposals gave good grounds for believing that
they were really working for complete separation
from England. Mr. MacNeill assured me that

this was not the case ; that naturally the first
object of the Irish members was to obtain self-
government for Ireland ; and that when this,
their main object, was secured, it did not become
them to criticise or cavil at the terms of the
grant made to them. Moreover, he said he
believed that the Irish members were only too
anxious to support Irish representation at
Westminster, should a suitable scheme contain-
ing the necessary provisions be brought forward.
Lord Rosebery, in his recent speech at Inverness ',
has suggested a possible solution. He there pro-
poses a reduced Irish representation at West-
minster ; this representation could be based upon
the amount of tJie Irish contribution to the Imperial
revenue. A nd though it seems illogical t/iat Irish
members should vote on English local matters, still,
taking into consideration the large indirect contribu-
tion that Ireland would make in connection with

I 2

122 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

trade and commerce, and that the English people
are not prepared at present to accept any vital
change of their Constitution, it would appear more
workable that this reduced number of Irish members
should speak and vote even on purely English local
questions tJian that at doubtful intervals they should
be called upon to withdraw into an outside lobby.

With (some sucJi) safeguards— and they must
be effective safeguards for the maintenance of
Imperial unity — I am of the opinion that the
Home Rule granted should be a reality, and not
a sham.

If the Irish are to be conciliated and benefited
by the grant of self-government, they should be
trusted, and trusted entirely. Otherwise the
application of popular institutions to Ireland must
be deemed impracticable, and the only alternative
is the administration of the country as a Crown
colony, which plan in the present state of public
opinion is totally impossible.

My experience in the Cape Colony leads me
to believe that the Ulster question is one which
would soon settle itself.

Since the Colonial Office has allowed questions
at the Cape to be settled by the Cape Parliament,
not only has the attachment to the Imperial tie
been immeasurably strengthened, but the Dutch,
who form the majority of the population, have
shown a greatly increased consideration for the
sentiments of the English members of the
community.

It seems only reasonable to suppose that in
an Irish Parliament similar consideration would
be given to the sentiments of that portion of the
inhabitants which is at present out of sympathy
with the national movement.

I will frankly add that my interest in the Irish

Dr. Jameson and Mr. Boyd.

124 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

question has been heightened by the fact that in
it I see the possibility of the commencement of
changes which will eventually mould and weld
together all parts of the British Empire.

The English are a conservative people, and
like to move slowly, and as it were experimentally.
At present there can be no doubt that the time of
Parliament is overcrowded with the discussion of
trivial and local affairs. Imperial matters have
to stand their chance of a hearing alongside of
railway and tram bills. Evidently it must be a
function of modern legislation to delegate an
enormous number of questions which now occupy
the time of Parliament, to District Councils or
local bodies.

Mr. Chamberlain recognised this fact in his
Radical programme of 1885, and the need daily
grows more urgent. Now the removal of Irish
affairs to an Irish Legislature [Council] would be
a practical experimental step in the direction of
lessening the burden upon the central deliberative
and legislative machine.

But side by side with the tendency of
decentralisation for local affairs, there is growing
up a feeling for the necessity of greater union in
Imperial matters. The primary tie which binds
our Empire together is the national one of self-
defence. The Colonies are already commencing
to co-operate with and contribute to the mother
country for this purpose.

But if they are to contribute permanently and
beneficially they will have to be represented in
the Imperial Parliament, where the distribution
of their contributions must be decided upon.

I do not think that it can be denied that the
presence of two or three Australian members in
the House would in recent years have prevented

HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 125

much misunderstanding upon such questions as
the New Hebrides, New Guinea, and Chinese
immigration. Now an \reduced~\ Irish representa-
tion at Westminster (with numbers proportionate
to Ireland's Imperial contribution} would, without
making any vital change in the English Constitu-
tion, furnish a precedent by which the self-
governing Colonies could from time to time, as
they expressed a desire to contribute to Imperial
expenditure, be incorporated with the Imperial
Legislature. You will perhaps say that I am
making the Irish question a stalking-horse for a
scheme of Imperial Federation ; but if so, I am at
least placing Ireland in the forefront of the battle.

The question is, moreover, one in which I
take a deep interest, and I shall be obliged if
you can tell [assure] me that Mr. MacNeill is
not mistaken in the impression he conveyed to
me, and that you and your Party would be
prepared to give your hearty support and
approval to a Home Rule Bill containing
provisions for the continuance of Irish repre-
sentation at Westminster. Such a declaration
would afford great satisfaction to myself and
others, and would enable us to give our full and
active support to your cause and your Party.

/ shall be happy to contribute to the ftuids of
the Party to the extent of ^10,000. / am also,
under the cimunstances, authorised to offer you
a further sum of ,£1,000 from Mr. John
Morrogh, an Irish resident at Kimberley, South
Africa. — Yours faithfully, C. J. RHODES.

NOTE. — Tlie portions of this letter printed in italics are the
omissions made by Par nell from the original draft submitted
to him. The word " Council" on page 124, in brackets, and the
word "assure" on page 125, /// bracket 's, were omitted in favour
of mere verbal alterations.

126 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

To this Mr. Parnell replied as follows :—

House of Commons,

June 23, '88.

Dear Sir, — I am much obliged to you for your letter of the
2oth inst, which confirms the very interesting account given
me at Avondale last January by Mr. Swift MacNeill as to his
interviews and conversations with you on the subject of Home
Rule for Ireland.

I may say at once and frankly that I think you have
•correctly judged the exclusion of the Irish members from
Westminster to have been a defect in the Home Rule measure
of 1886, and further, that this proposed exclusion may have
given some colour to the accusations so freely made against
the Bill, that it had a separatist tendency. I say this while
strongly asserting and believing that the measure itself was
accepted by the Irish people without any afterthought of the
kind, and with an earnest desire to work it out in the same
spirit in which it was offered, a spirit of cordial goodwill and
trust, a desire to let bygones be bygones, and a determination
to accept it as a final and satisfactory settlement of the long-
standing dispute and trouble between Great Britain and
Ireland.

I am very glad to find that you consider the measure of
Home Rule to be granted to Ireland should be thoroughgoing,
and should give her complete control over her own affairs
Avithout reservation, and I cordially agree with your opinion
that there should be at the same time effective safeguards for
the maintenance of Imperial unity. Your conclusion as to the
only alternative for Home Rule is also entirely my own, for I
have long felt that the continuance of the present semi-
•constitutional system is quite impracticable.

But to return to the question of the retention of the Irish
members at Westminster, my own views upon the point, the
probabilities of the future, and the bearing of this subject upon
the question of Imperial Federation. My own feeling upon
the matter is, that if Mr. Gladstone includes in his next Home
Rule measure provisions for such retention, we should cheer-
fully concur in them, and accept them with good will and good
faith, with the intention of taking our share in the Imperial

127

Photograph l>yt

[E. H. Mills.

Sir Harry Johnston.

128 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

partnership. I believe also that in the event stated this will
be the case, and that the Irish people will cheerfully accept
the duties and responsibilities assigned to them, and will justly
value the position given them in the Imperial system.

I am convinced that it would be the highest statesmanship
on Mr. Gladstone's part, to devise a feasible plan for the con-
tinued presence of the Irish members here, and from my obser-
vation of public events and opinion since 1885, I am sure that
Mr. Gladstone is fully alive to the importance of the matter,
and that there can be no doubt that the next measure of
autonomy for Ireland will contain the provisions which you
rightly deem of such moment. It does not come so much
within my province to express a full opinion upon the question
of Imperial Federation, but I quite agree with you that the
continued Irish representation at Westminster will immensely
facilitate such a step, while the contrary provision in the Bill
of '86 would have been a bar. Undoubtedly this is a matter
which should be dealt with in accordance with the opinion of
the Colonies themselves, and if they should desire to share in
the cost of Imperial matters, as certainly they now do in the
responsibility, and should express a wish for representation at
Westminster, I quite think it should be accorded to them, and
that public opinion in these islands would unanimously concur
in the necessary constitutional modifications. — I am, dear sir,
yours truly, CHARLES STEWART PARNELL.

C. J. Rhodes, Esq.

Mr. Rhodes confirmed the bargain by the following
letter:—

Westminster Palace Hotel, London.

June 24, 1888.

Dear Mr. Parnell, — I have to thank you for
your letter of the 23rd inst., the contents of which
have given me great pleasure.

I feel sure that your cordial approval of the
retention of Irish representation at Westminster
will gain you support in many quarters from
which it has hitherto been withheld.

As a proof of my deep and sincere interest in

HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 129

the question, and as I believe that the action of
the Irish party on the basis which you have
stated will lead, not to disintegration, but really
to a closer union of the Empire, making it an
Empire in reality, and not in name only, I am
happy to offer a contribution to the extent of
j£ 10,000 to the funds of your party. I am also
authorised to offer you a further sum of ;£i,ooo
from Mr. John Morrogh, an Irish resident in
Kimberley, South Africa. — Believe me, yours
faithfully, C. J. RHODES.

P.S. — I herewith enclose a cheque for ,£5,000
as my first instalment.

A year after this, Mr. Parnell went down to Hawarden to
settle the details of the next Home Rule Bill with Mr. Glad-
stone. In the beginning of 1890 he wrote to Mr. Rhodes to
say that the retention of the Irish Members at Westminster
had been agreed upon, but that Mr. Gladstone insisted on
reducing the representation in order to conciliate English
public opinion. Mr. Rhodes, characteristically enough, had
lost Mr. Parnell's letter, and the evidence as to its contents is
a report of Mr. Parnell's speech in 1891.

When the unfortunate breach between Mr. Pamell and the
majority of the Irish Party took place at the beginning of 1891,
Mr. Parneil so far forgot the roU which he had marked out for
himself as to address to a meeting at Navan a declaration that
u some day or other, in the long-distant future, someone might
arise who may have the privilege of addressing you as men of
Republican Meath." Mr. Rhodes, on seeing a report of this
speech, at once wrote to expostulate with Mr. Parnell, pointing
out how inconsistent was this declaration about Republican
Meath with the loyal maintenance of Imperial unity on a federal
basis. Instead of resenting being thus recalled to the letter of
his contract, Mr. Parnell wrote promptly and admitted his mis-
take. He said he regretted the words he had used ; he had
gone further than he intended, and, as a matter of fact, the
words in question were contradicted by other passages of the
same speech, as, for example, when he said : 4< We are willing

i3o POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

to show that the existence of Irish autonomy is compatible
with Imperial prosperity and progress."

Neither Mr. Rhodes's letter of expostulation nor Mr.
Parnell's letter of explanation and apology is in existence,
Mr. Parnell's letter having been burnt in the fire that destroyed
Groote Schuur.

The Parnell correspondence proves one thing conclusively,
if nothing else — namely, that the suspicion and distrust excited
by Mr. Rhodes' contribution to the Irish National Fund was
absolutely without justification. Nothing could have been
straighter and more above-board than the bargain between the
two men, and the aim and object of that deal was not, as
Mr. Rhodes's assailants pretended and still pretend, to assist
in a separatist movement intended to break up the Empire ;
its aim was exactly the reverse — namely, to confine the move-
ment for local self-government in Ireland within the limits of a
federal system, and make it the stepping-stone to that federa-
tion which is the condition of the continued existence of our
Empire.

Mr. Rhodes's second contribution to British political funds
took place three years after the subscription to Mr. Parnell.
The correspondence which took place in 1891 did not appear
till 1901, when it was extracted from Mr. Rhodes by the extra-
ordinary blunder of the editor of the Spectator, who, hearing
from a correspondent signing himself " C. B." that Mr. Rhodes
had given Mr. Schnadhorst a contribution to the funds of the
Liberal Party, on condition that its leaders should not urge or
support our retrogression from Egypt, jumped to the remark-
able conclusion that this fact explained the greatest of all
mysteries in regard to Mr. Rhodes, the mystery why the
Liberals on the South African Committee allowed him to get
off so very easily. The absurdity of this is apparent from the
fact that it was not Mr. Rhodes but Mr. Chamberlain who was
let off easily by the South African Committee, and that the
Liberals assented to the whitewashing of Mr. Chamberlain on
condition that they might be allowed to pronounce sentence
of major excommunication upon Mr. Rhodes. Nevertheless,
the Spectator, floundering still more hopelessly into the
morass, declared that if the transactions recorded were
correct, the Liberal leaders were at the mercy of Mr. Rhodes.

HIS CORRESPONDENCE. \^i

To this Sir Henry Campbell-Baunerman replied bluntly by
declaring that the story was from beginning to end a lie.
Mr. Rhodes then wrote a letter which appeared in the
Spectator of October 12, 1901 : —

Sir, — I have been appealed to upon the
controversy that has arisen in your paper
between a correspondent signing himself " C. B.'r
and Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. I may
say that the letter of "C. B." was written without
my knowledge or approval, still, as his statement
has been characterised as "a lie," it is my duty
to send you the facts.

I made the acquaintance of Mr. Schnadhorst
when he was visiting the Cape for his health
early in 1890. I saw a great deal of him in
Kimberley, and found that his political thoughts
were in the direction of what would now be
called Liberal Imperialism ; and his views as to
Empire were no doubt enormously strengthened
by his visit to Africa.

I told him that my ideas were Liberalism////^
Empire, and I added that I thought the Liberal
party was ruining itself by its Little England
policy, my thoughts being then on the point of
their desire to scuttle out of Egypt.

I subsequently met Mr. Schnadhorst in
London, and he asked me whether I would be
willing to subscribe to the party funds. I said I
was prepared to do so provided that the policy
was not to scuttle out of Egypt, and that in the
event of a Home Rule Bill being brought forward
provision should be made for the retention of
Irish Members at Westminster, as I considered
the first Home Rule Bill of Mr. Gladstone's
simply placed Ireland in a subject position, taxed
for our Imperial purposes without a voice in the
expenditure ; and it was hopeless ever to expect

132 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

closer union with the Colonies if a portion of the
Empire so close as Ireland had been turned into
a tributary State.

It is ridiculous to suppose, as I have seen it
stated, that I thought I should purchase the
Liberal policy for the sum of ,£5,000 or any
other sum, and any Liberal making such a
suggestion only insults his own party ; but I
naturally did not want to help a party into
power whose first act would be what I most
objected to — namely, the abandonment of
Egypt.

I understood from Mr. Schnadhorst that he
would consult Mr. Gladstone, which quite satis-
fied me, as I looked upon Mr. Gladstone as the
Liberal party. Mr. Schnadhorst accepted ,£5,000
from myself for party purposes, coupled with the
conditions defined in letter marked "A."

Some time after I read a speech of Mr. Glad-
stone's at Newcastle — I think it was at the end
of 1891 — in which he expressed the hope that
Lord Salisbury would take some step "to relieve
us from the burdensome and embarrassing occupa-
tion of Egypt." This naturally surprised me
after what had passed between Mr. Schnadhorst
and myself, and I therefore wrote to him letter
" B," and received in reply letter " C." (You
will notice that in this letter, referring to my
subscription, I say :— " As you are aware, the
question of Egypt was the only condition I
made." I was only writing at sea from memory,
but I knew the fear of losing Egypt, to which I
referred in the postscript to my letter addressed
to Mr. Schnadhorst marked "A," had been the
paramount thought in my mind.) I took no more
trouble in the matter, as soon after I arrived
in Africa Lord Rosebery joined the Ministry

HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 133

Mr. Gladstone was forming, and I knew that
Egypt was saved

The correspondence speaks for itself, and I
leave your readers to decide how far Sir Henry
Campbell- Bannerman was justified in character-
ising the statement of " C. B." as being "from
beginning to end a lie."

According to their statement, neither Sir
Henry Campbell-Bannerman nor Sir William
Harcourt was acquainted with the facts ; but I
naturally assumed Mr. Schnadhorst to be speak-
ing with authority. — I am, sir, etc.,

C. J. RHODES.

[A.]

Monday, February 23, 1891.

My dear Schnadhorst,— I enclose you a
cheque for ,£ 5,000, and I hope you will, with
the extreme caution that is necessary, help in
guiding your party to consider politics other than
England.

I do not think your visit to Kimberley did
you harm, either physically or politically, and I
.am glad to send you the contribution I promised.
The future of England must be Liberal, perhaps,
to fight Socialism. I make but two conditions ;
please honourably observe them — (i) that my
contribution is secret (if, of course, you feel in
honour bound to tell Mr. Gladstone, you can do
so, but no one else, and he must treat it as
confidential) ; (2) if the exigencies of party
necessitate a Home Rule Bill without represen-
tation at Westminster, your Association must
return my cheque. — Yours,

(Signed) C. J. RHODES.

P.S. — I am horrified by Morley's speech on

134 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

Egypt. If you think your party hopeless keep
the money, but give it to some chanty you
approve of. It would be an awful thing to give
my money to breaking up the Empire.

[B.]
On board the Dunottar, April 25, 1892.

My dear Schnadhorst, — I am sorry to have
missed you, but glad to hear that you are so
much better, though it robs one of the chance of
seeing you again in South Africa.

I gather in England that your party is almost
certain to come in, though there may be subse-
quent difficulty as to the shape of the Home Rule
Bill.

The matter that is troubling me most is your
policy as to Egypt. I was horrified when I
returned from Mashonaland to read a speech of
Mr. Gladstone's evidently foreshadowing a scuttle
if he came in. I could hardly believe it to be
true, and sat down to write to you, but thought
it better to wait and see you. I have now
missed you, so must trust to writing. I do
hope you will do your best to check him from
the mad step, which must bring ruin and
misery on the whole of Egypt, whilst our
retirement will undoubtedly bring it under the
influence of one or other of the foreign Powers,
which of course by reciprocal treaties will
eventually manage the exclusion of our trade.
However, if your respected leader remains
obdurate when he comes into power, and adopts
this policy of scuttle, I shall certainly call upon
you to devote my subscription to some public
charity in terms of my letter to you, as I certainly,
though a Liberal, did not subscribe to your party
to assist in the one thing that I hate above

HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 135

everything, namely, the policy of disentegrating
and breaking up our Empire.

As you are aware, the question of Egypt was
the only condition I made, and it seems rather
extraordinary to me that the first public speech
your leader should make — which sketches gener-
ally his views upon the near approach of office-
should declare a policy of abandonment.

I asked you at the time I wrote to see him
and tell him of my action, and I suppose you
must have mentioned the Egyptian question,
which was really all I cared about.

We are now one-third of the way with a
telegraph through the continent from the South,
only to hear of your policy of scuttle from the
North. (Signed) C. J. RHODES.

P.S. — I have to send this to be posted in
England, as I have forgotten your direction.

The postscript explains how it was that this letter came into
my possession. It was sent to me to be copied, and forwarded
to Mr. Schnadhorst. In reporting the receipt of the letter to
Mr. Rhodes I wrote as follows : —

"May i6th, 1892.

" Dear Mr. Rhodes, — Received your letter for Schnadhorst,
and duly forwarded it to him. I think the fault lies with
Mr. Schnadhorst, not with Mr. Gladstone. I was writing to
Mr. Gladstone about something else, and incidentally mentioned
that you were very indignant with several speeches about Egypt,
whereupon Mr. Gladstone wrote asking what were those speeches
to which Mr. Rhodes took exception, as he had not the plea-
sure of knowing what Mr. Rhodes's views were concerning
Egypt. From this I infer that Mr. Schnadhorst has never
informed Mr. Gladstone of anything that you said to him, in
which case he deserves the bad quarter of an hour he will
have after receiving your letter. I saw Mr. Balfour the other
day, who said he did not think the difficulty was with Mr.
Gladstone, but rather with Sir William Harcourt, who believed

136 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

in the curtailment of the British Empire, if he believed in
nothing else. Balfour was very sorry that he had not a chance
of meeting you when you were here, as he had looked forward
to your coming in the hope of making your acquaintance. —
I am, yours very truly, " (Signed) W. T. STEAD."

The following is Mr. Schnadhorst's reply : —

[C]

National Liberal Federation,
42, Parliament Street, S.W.

June 4th, 1892.

My dear Rhodes, — I regret very much I did not see you
when you were here, as your letter places me in a position of
extreme perplexity. Your donation was given with two con-
ditions, both of which will be observed, but in a postscript you
referred to John Morley's speech on Egypt in the sense in
which you have written about Mr. Gladstone's reference to the
same subject. It is eighteen months ago since I saw you,
when you referred to the subject in conversation, and I told
you then, as I think now, that J. M.'s speech was very unwise,
and that it did not represent the policy of the party. The
General Election has been coming near, and is now close
at hand. Your gift was intended to help in the Home Rule
struggle. It could do so only by being used before the
election. Being satisfied that I could observe your con-
ditions, and that J. M.'s speech was simply the expression
of an individual opinion, I felt at liberty to pledge
your funds for various purposes in connection with the
election. This was done to a large extent before Mr. G.
spoke at Newcastle. I am bound to say that in my view his
reference to Egypt was no more than an expression of a pious
opinion. It did not alter my feelings that a Liberal Govern-
ment would not attempt withdrawal. Sir W. Harcourt was
annoyed at Mr. G.'s reference at the time, and since I heard
from you I have seen Lord Rosebery, who will become Foreign
Minister, and who I am satisfied from what he said to me would
not sanction such a policy. Mr. Gladstone, I expect, had been
worked on by a few individuals, possibly by J. M. alone ; but
in my opinion it would be simply madness for him to add to

HIS CORRESPONDENCE. 137

the enormous difficulties with which he will have to deal by
risking complications on such a subject. There is no danger ;
besides, the next Liberal Foreign Secretary will be a strong
man who will take his own course, very different from the pliant
and supple Granville. Of course, I may be wrong; time
alone can show; but if I waited for that the purpose for
which I asked your help, and for which you gave it, would go
unaided.

You will see what a precious fix you have put me in. I
will not make any further promises until I hear from you. —
With all good wishes, I am, faithfully yours,

"(Signed) F. SCHNADHORST."

It would seem from this correspondence that there is not a
shadow or tittle of reason for attributing to Mr. Rhodes or to
the Liberal leaders any corrupt contract, much less that there
was any subscription to the party fund which would justify the
monstrous assertion of the Spectator that the acceptance of this
subscription, of the existence of which probably Mr. Gladstone
was unaware, in any way influenced either the policy of the
Government about Egypt or the action of the Liberal leaders
on the South African Committee.

The attempt that was made in some quarters to represent
Mr. Rhodes as dictating the policy of the Imperial Government
by a subscription of ^5,000 to an election fund is too puerile
to be discussed. All that Mr. Rhodes did was to take the
course which is almost invariably taken by any person who
is asked to subscribe to a campaign fund. There is hardly
anything subscribed to the election expenses of a candidate on
either side which is not accompanied by a publicly and privately
expressed opinion as to the political cause which it is hoped the
candidate will support. Subscriptions are constantly given or
refused every year because the donor agrees with or dissents
from some particular article in the programme of the candidate
he is asked to support. It is a curious thing that a great
part of the outcry against Mr. Rhodes's subscription to the
Liberal Party arises from those who, when Mr. Gladstone went
off to the Home Rule cause, transferred their subscriptions
from the Liberal to the Unionist exchequer. The use of
electoral subscriptions as a means of promoting political ideas

K 2

138

POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

may be as objectionable as some critics maintain, but it does
not lie in the mouths of those who remorselessly used the
advantages of superior wealth in order to penalise the adoption
of a policy of justice to Ireland, to throw stones at Mr. Rhodes.
Mr. Rhodes in 1885 wrote a letter of such phenomenal
length that it filled a whole sheet of the Times, but as it related
chiefly to the controversy as to the best way of administering
Bechuanaland, and was the product of the combined wits of
Mr. Maguire and himself, it is not necessary to quote it
here.

A Portrait of Mr. Rhodes taken in the Matoppos, 1899.

139

CHAPTER IV.— HIS SPEECHES.

MR. RHODES'S speeches between 1881 and 1899 were col-
lected and published in 1900 (publishers, Chapman and Hall).
Whether the publication of Mr. Rhodes's speeches will tend
to vindicate his reputation — -as the publication of Oliver
Cromwell's speeches tended to justify the favourable verdict of
Mr. Carlyle — remains to be seen. Here, at least, we have
material for judgment. In this book, the painstaking research
of a chronicler who preferred to veil his identity behind the
pseudonym of " Vindex," are collected all the public speeches
of Mr. Rhodes which have ever been reported since he entered
public life in the Cape in 1881, down to his famous speech at
Kimberley immediately after the relief of the beleaguered city.

These speeches, however, we are given to understand,
have neither been bowdlerised nor edited, excepting so far as is
necessary to correct the somewhat slipshod grammar of
Colonial reporters, excusable enough when grappling with the
ill-hewn sentences of a man who thinks as he is speaking.
Mr. Rhodes, however, had no reason to fear being tried by
this ordeal. He does not emerge an immaculate saint, carved
in the whitest of Parian marble. He is revealed not as an
archangel of radiant stainless purity, but neither was he a
cloven-footed devil. Judging him by his stature in influence,
in authority and in driving force, he belonged to the order of
archangels ; but he was a grey archangel, with a crippled wing,
which caused him to pursue a somewhat devious course in the
midst of the storm-winds of race-passion and political intrigue.
A grey archangel crossed with a Jesuit, who was so devoted
to his ends that almost all means were to him indifferent,
excepting in so far as they helped him to attain his goal — that
is the man who is revealed to us in these speeches.

Mr. Rhodes did not execute so many curves in his political
career as did Mr. Gladstone. His course, with one great and
lamentable exception, was characterised by an unswerving
adhesion to one political line ; but throughout the whole of his
life there was manifest the same steady purpose, to which he

140 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

was true in good report and in ill. He tacked hither and
thither, steering now to the north and now to the south ; but
he ever kept his goal in view. He did not navigate these
crowded sea,s without a compass and chart. Short-sighted
mortals, who have no other mete-wand by which to test the
consistency of statesmen than their fidelity to the ephemeral
combinations of parties, were bewildered and declared that there
was no knowing what this man was after. But by those who
watched his course afar off it was seen that his apparent
divagations from the direct course were only those of the
mariner whom long experience has taught that against an
adverse wind the shortest way to your port is often the longest
way about. Mr. Rhodes himself always maintained to those
who knew him intimately and who could enter into his higher
thoughts, that he had one object — namely, to promote by all
the means in his power the union, the development, the
extension of the English-speaking race. Empire with Mr.
Rhodes meant many things, chiefly the maintenance of the
union between the widely scattered communities which owe
allegiance to the British Crown; secondly, the established
authority of this race — peaceful, industrious and free — over
the dark-skinned myriads of Africa and Asia ; thirdly, the
maintenance of an open door for the products of British
manufactures to all the markets of the world.

These were Mr. Rhodes's political objects. To attain these
ends he devoted his life and dedicated the whole of his
money, the acquisition of which some erroneously imaginecf'to
be the great object of his life. To achieve these ends he
worked first with one set of men and then with another ; but
on the whole it will be found by reference to the speeches that
for the most part he stood in with the Dutch.

Without further preface I will proceed to examine the
book, and quote from the 912 pages of the speeches here
collected some short and pithy extracts. It is impossible to
read Mr. Rhodes's speeches without feeling that " Vindex "
had good reason for the faith that was within him. I always
thought a great deal of Mr. Rhodes, but the perusal of these
speeches led me to feel that I had never done justice to many
sides of his singularly attractive character.

Take, for instance, the fascination which he undoubtedly

141

•*4LJ. «ta

Photograph by S. B. Barnard, \

A Characteristic Portrait.

\Cape Town*

142 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

exercised over General Gordon. Everyone knows that Gordon
wished Mr. Rhodes to go with him to Khartoum on the famous
mission which had so tragic a termination, but I was not aware
until I found it in this book how insistent Gordon had been to
secure Mr. Rhodes's assistance in tne pacification of Basutoland.

It was in the year 1882 that Gordon and Rhodes met.
" Vindex" says that they were both deeply interested in the
Basuto question. They used to take long walks together and
discuss Imperial and other questions, with the result of vigorous
argument between them. They became such close friends
that when Rhodes was starting for Kimberley, Gordon pressed
him hard to stay and work with him in Basutoland. Rhodes
refused on the ground that he had already mapped out his life's
work, which lay elsewhere. Gordon would take no denial for
a long time, and when forced to give in at last, said, " There
are very few men in the world to whom I would make such
an offer, but of course you will have your own way." " You
always contradict me," Gordon said to Rhodes, " you always
think you are right and every one else wrong," a formula
which Rhodes, no doubt, would have applied with equal justice
to Gordon himself. The closeness of the tie which bound
together the two men was natural enough. Both were idealists
whose thoughts ran on the same lines in many things, the chief
difference being not as to aims but as to the practical methods
for realising them. This is well illustrated by*Rhodes's well-
known observation when Gordon told him that he had refused
a roomful of gold offered him by the Chinese Government as a
reward for suppressing the Taeping rebellion. " I would have
taken it," said Rhodes, " and as many roomfuls as they would
have given me. It is of no use to have big ideas if you have
not the cash to carry them out."

That Rhodes had big ideas no person who reads this col
lection of speeches will doubt. One of the earliest speeches in
" Vindex's " collection was that which he delivered in July,
1883, on the Basutoland Annexation Bill. It was a veritable
Confession of Faith, the declaration of political convictions
from which Mr. Rhodes never varied.

" I have my own views as to the future of
South Africa, and I believe in an United States

HIS SPEECHES. 143

of South Africa, but as a portion of the British
Empire. I believe that confederated states in a
colony under responsible government would each
be practically an independent republic ; but I
think we should have all the privileges of the tie
with the Empire. Possibly there is not a very
great divergence between myself and the honour-
able member for Stellenbosch, excepting always
the question of the flag."

The honourable member for Stellenbosch was Mr. Hofmeyr,
who was reported to have said that he was in favour of the
United States of South Africa under its own flag.

It is very interesting to see this difference on the flag crop-
ping up as long ago as 1 883. Mr. Rhodes was always a fanatic
on the subject of the British flag. Speaking at Bloemfontein
in 1890, Mr. Rhodes is reported as having said that he felt
admiration for the sentiment regarding the possession of a
national flag, and he looked forward to equitable understandings
which, while not sacrificing sentiment, would bring about a
practical union in South Africa. What he meant by this is
quite clear, and would have been clearer had " Vindex "
reported his speech in full. Mr. Rhodes was in favour of
allowing the republics to retain their own flags when they came
into the Confederation, and he angrily reproved those who
wished to take away the republican flags from South Africa.
Devotion to his own flag enabled him to sympathise with the
sentiment of the Dutch. At Kimberley, in 1890, he said that
he deprecated any attempt to force a union of South Africa
under the same flag. He said : — -

" I know myself that I am not prepared to
forfeit at any time my own flag. I repeat I am
not prepared at any time to forfeit my own flag.
If I forfeit my flag what have I left ? If you take
away my flag you take away everything. Holding
this view I cannot but feel the same respect for
the neighbouring states where men have been
born under republican institutions and with
republican feelings."

144 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

Therein Mr. Rhodes laid his finger upon the great secret of
his success — that which differentiated him from the ruck of the
people by whom he was surrounded. He had not only
imagination, but he had sympathy.

It would be difficult to find any speeches so instinct with
the spirit of true Colonial self-government, and the assertion of
the fundamental principles which military Imperialism tramples
under foot, than those which meet us on almost every page of
this book. One of the best speeches which Mr. Rhodes ever
delivered was that which he addressed to the Congress of the
Afrikander Bond in 1891. We are told constantly that the
Afrikander Bond is a treasonable association.

But in 1891 Mr. Rhodes stood up to propose the toast of
the Afrikander Bond. He had just returned from England,
where he had received, as he said, " the highest consideration
from the politicians of England," and Her Majesty had invited
him to dine with her. Fresh from these tokens of confidence
at Downing Street and at Windsor, he hastened to Africa to
propose the toast of the Afrikander Bond, and to declare
that he

"felt most completely and entirely that the object
and aspirations of the Afrikander Bond were in
complete touch and concert with a fervent loyalty
to Her Majesty the Queen." " I come here,"
said Mr. Rhodes, " because I wish to show that
there is no antagonism between the aspirations
of the people of this country and of their kindred
in the mother country. But," Mr. Rhodes added
significantly, " provided always that the Old
Country recognises that the whole idea of the
colonies and of the colonial people is that the
principle of self-government must be preserved to
the full, and that the capacity of the colony must
be admitted to deal with every internal matter
that may arise in this country. The principle
must be recognised in the Old Country that the
people born and bred in this colony, and descended
from those who existed in this country many

HIS SPEECHES. 145

generations ago, are much better capable of
dealing with the various matters that arise than
people who have to dictate some thousands of
miles away. Now that is the people of the
Afrikander Bond. I look upon that party as
representing the people of that country." He
declared that " the future rested with the
Afrikander Bond. Your ideas are the same as
mine."

While always professing his full loyalty and devotion to the
mother country, he asserted that self-government would give
them everything they wanted.

" Let us accept jointly the idea that the most
complete internal self-government is what we are
both aiming at. That self-government means
that every question in connection with this country
we shall decide, and we alone. The we are the
white .men in South Africa — Dutch and English."

Between the two Mr. Rhodes kept the balance even.
Speaking at the Paarl about the same time, he declared that
he hardly knew which to choose between, the Dutch and the
English, as the dominant race in the world.

" You have only got to read history to know
that if ever there was a proud, rude man, it was
an Englishman — the only man to cope with him
was a Dutchman."

The impression left upon the mind by the reading of these
earlier speeches of Mr. Rhodes is that, while devoted to the
British Empire and true to the principle of the Empire, he was
nevertheless primarily a Cape Colonist. We have here nothing
concerning the paramountcy of Downing Street, or even of the
supremacy of the Empire. What he struggled for was the para-
mountcy of Cape Colony. The Cape was to be the dominant
power in South Africa. The Northern extension of Bechuana-
land was to be made for the Cape, and the Cape was then, as

146

Photograph by]

[E. H. Mills.

Dr. F. Rutherfoord Harris.

HIS SPEECHES. 147

it is now, and will probably always remain, the colony in which
the majority of the people speak Dutch. No person ever
rebuked more vehemently in advance the attempts of the
military coercionists to discriminate against the Dutch in
favour of the British. Mr. Rhodes, by all his antecedents,
by force of instinct, strengthened by the deepest political
conviction, would have been driven had he lived to come to
the front and defend the Dutch of South Africa against the
" loyalists " who clamour for disfranchisement and persecution
of the Dutch as the condition of the settlement of South
Africa.

We had the same kind of thing in 1884, when, after the
Warren expedition, it was reported that Sir Charles Warren
had drawn up a scheme which contained a provision that no
Dutchman need apply for land in the newly-acquired territory.
Upon this Mr. Rhodes said : —

" I think all would recognise that I am an
Englishman, and one of my strongest feelings is
loyalty to my own country. If the report of such
a condition in the settlement by Sir Charles
Warren is correct, that no man of Dutch descent
is to have a farm, it would be better for the
English colonists to retire. I remember, when a
youngster, reading in my English history of the
supremacy of my country and its annexations,
and that there were two cardinal axioms — that
the word of the nation when once pledged was
never broken, and that when a man accepted the
citizenship of the British Empire there was no
distinction between races. It has been my
misfortune in one year to meet with the breach of
one and the proposed breach of the other. The
result will be that when the troops are gone we
shall have to deal with sullen feeling, discontent,
and hostility. The proposed settlement of
Bechuanaland is based on the exclusion of
colonists of Dutch descent. I raise my voice in
most solemn protest against such a course, and it

148 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

is the duty of every Englishman in the House to
record his solemn protest against it. In conclu-
sion, I wish to say that the breach of solemn
pledges and the introduction of race distinctions
must result in bringing calamity on this country ;
and if such a policy is pursued it will endanger
the whole of our social relationships with colonists
of Dutch descent, and endanger the supremacy
of Her Majesty in this country."

No one could have denounced more vehemently than Mr.
Rhodes the suggestion that a Crown Colony of any kind should
be established under Downing Street in the heart of South
Africa.

" I have held," he said, "to one view. That
is the government of South Africa by the people
of South Africa whilst keeping the Imperial tie
of self-defence."

While he would not object to allow the Imperial Government
a temporary responsibility during a period of transition, he
declared —

" I do object most distinctly to the formation
of a separate British colony inHhe interior of
South Africa on the Zambesi apart from the
Colony of the Cape of Good Hope."

If he felt that as far away as the Zambesi is, how much more
strongly would he have felt it just across the Vaal and the
Orange River !

Incidentally also note that Mr. Rhodes strongly supported
the Dutch policy of dealing with the natives as opposed to
the policy of Exeter Hall and the missionaries. He main-
tained that the Dutch treated the natives very well. His own
native policy, which is practically accepted to-day by nearly
every white man in South Africa, was stated by him in 1888
as follows : —

" Well, I have made up my mind that there
must be class legislation, that there must be Pass

HIS SPEECHES. 149

Laws and Peace Preservation Acts, and that we
have got to treat natives, where they are in a
state of barbarism, in a different way to ourselves.
We are to be lords over them. These are my
politics on native affairs, and these are the politics
of South Africa. Treat the natives as a subject
people as long as they continue in a state of
barbarism and communal tenure ; be the lords
over them, and let them be a subject race — and
keep the liquor from them."

Viewed in the light of these extracts, we can see what
would have been the line which Mr. Rhodes would have taken
in the immediate future of South Africa. First and foremost,
Mr. Rhodes would have stood by the flag. He would never
be the George Washington of a revolted South Africa — unless,
of course, Downing Street should try to play the part of
George III. Secondly, he would of necessity have become
the centre round which would have gravitated all the forces
making for self-government and colonial independence. He
was the natural leader of the protest against that militarism
which cost us the Transvaal in 1 880-81, and which will
inevitably produce the same results if it is allowed to place
South Africa under the rule of the soldier's jack-boot. Thirdly,
Mr. Rhodes would have undertaken the championship of the
Dutch against the dominant party which wished to put them
under the harrow.

Extracts give an imperfect idea of Mr. Rhodes's
speeches. I quote therefore one speech in full. It was that
which he delivered when he was at the zenith of his fame at
the beginning of the year which was to close so disastrously
with the Jameson Raid. The speech is that which he addressed
to the shareholders of the Chartered Company on January i8th,
1895. It is also interesting as containing a very full descrip-
tion of the condition of things in Rhodesia at that time.

"Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen, I have to
thank you for the reception which you have
accorded to me, but I think that you naturally

150 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

desire that we should deal with the practical part
of the Company's development in Matabeleland
and Mashonaland, because you must remember
that the English are a very practical people.
They like expansion, but they like it in connection
with practical business. I will not refer to the
causes that led to our late war, but I may tell you
very frankly that we either had to have that war
or to leave the country. I do not blame the
Matabele. Their system was a military system ;
once a year they raided the surrounding people,
and such a system was impossible for our develop-
ment. Conclusions were tried, and they came to
a successful issue so far as we were concerned. I
might make one remark with respect to that war ;
that to refer to the men who took part in it as
political adventurers was a mistake. You can
quite understand that, however bad times were,
you would not risk your life unless there was
something other than profit from the possible
chance of obtaining a farm at the end of the war
of the value now of «about ^50. Really, why the
people volunteered so readily was that they had
adopted this new country as their home, and they
saw very clearly that unless they tried issues with
the Matabele, they would have to leave the
country. I think that is the best reply to the
charge that the men who took a part in the war
did it for the sake of loot and profit.

" Now, in looking at this question, we have to
consider what we possess, and I can tell you that
we possess a very large piece of the world. If
you will look at the map, let us consider what we
have north of the Zambesi. We have now taken
over the administration of the land north of the
Zambesi save and except the Nyassaland
Protectorate. We have also received sanction

HIS SPEECHES. 151

for all our concessions there ; that is, the land
and minerals north of the Zambesi belong to the
Chartered Company, with one exception, the
small piece termed the Nyassaland Protectorate.
Even in that, however, we have considerable
rights as to the minerals and land, in return for
the property we took over from a Scotch com-
pany called the Lakes Company. We have,
however, been relieved from the cost of adminis-
tration of the Nyassaland Protectorate. Her
Majesty's Government and the British people
have at last felt it their duty to pay for the
administration of one of their own provinces, and
I think we have a very fair reply to the Little
Englanders, who are always charging us with
increasing the responsibilities of Her Majesty's
Government, and stating that the ' Charters,'
when in difficulty, always appeal to the mother
country. Our reply must be that the boot is on
the other leg. For four years we have found the
cost of administration of one of your own provinces,
and we are proud to think that we have yearly
paid into Her Majesty's Treasury a sum for the
administration of one of our own provinces,
because Governments were unable to face the
House of Commons to ask them to contribute to
their obligations.

" Well, that is the position north of the
Zambesi ; and I may say, in reference to that
part of our territory, that there are very promising
reports from it. It is a high plateau, fully
mineralised, and every report shows that the high
plateau is a part where Europeans can live. If
we pass from that to the South, we first come to
Matabeleland and Mashonaland. There we have
had great difficulties in the past. We had a
Charter, but not a country. We had first to go

152 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

in and occupy Mashonaland with the consent of
the Mashonas, and then we had to deal with the
Matabele. At the present moment there is a
civilised government over the whole of that.
We also possess the land and minerals, and from
a sentimental point of view I will say this — that
I visited the territory the other day and saw
nearly all the chiefs of the Matabele, and I may
say that they were all pleased, and naturally so.
In the past they had always " walked delicately,"
because any one who got to any position in the
country and became rich was generally "smelt
out," and lost his life. You can understand that
life was not very pleasant under such conditions.
In so far as the bulk of the people were concerned
they were not allowed to hold any cattle or
possess anything of their own. Now they can
hold cattle, and the leaders of the people know
that they do not walk daily with the fear of death
over them, We have now occupied the country,
which I think we administer fairly, and in that
territory also we possess the land and minerals.

" With regard to the South, in the country
termed the Bechuanaland Protectorate, we pos-
sess all the mineral rights of Khamaland, and we
have the negative right to the land and minerals
as far south as Mafeking. What I mean by the
negative right is, that from Mafeking throughout
the whole Protectorate, since the grant of the
Charter, no one has any right to obtain any
concession from the natives except through the
Chartered Company. We therefore possess the
land, minerals, and territory from Mafeking to
Tanganyika — that is, twelve hundred miles long
and five hundred broad. I might say, with
respect to that country, that I see no future
difficulties in so far as risings of the natives are

HIS SPEECHES. 153

concerned. We have satisfied the people
throughout the whole of it, and we may say
that we have now come to that point when we
can deal, without the risk of war, with the
peaceful development of the country. That is
what we possess.

" Now, you might very fairly ask what has it
cost us. Your position is somewhat as follows :—
You have a share capital of ,£2,000,000, and you
have a debenture debt to-day of about ,£650,000 ;
and I might point out to you that as against that
debenture debt you have paid for the one
hundred miles of railway in the Crown Colony of
Bechuanaland, you have about fourteen hundred
miles of telegraph, you have built magistrates'
courts in the whole of your territory, you have
civilised towns in five or six different parts, and
the Beira Railway. Although you do not hold
their debentures, you have the voting power, and
the railway is completed. We might now fairly
say, if you put aside the Mafeking Railway and
the land you hold in the Crown Colony of Bechu-
analand, as apart from the chartered territories,
that your debenture debt can be regarded as about
,£350,000 ; because I do not think it is an unfair
price to put in your assets in Bechuanaland at
,£300,000, for, since the railway was opened there,
it has paid its working expenses and four per cent.
Therefore, in looking at the matter from a purely
commercial point of view, you might say, we
possess a country with all the rights to it, in length
twelve hundred miles and in breadth an average
of five hundred, and we have a debt of about
,£300,000 or ,£350,000, because we have an asset
apart from that country in the Crown Colony of
British Bechuanaland of about ,£300,000.

"The next question you would naturally ask

L 2

154 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

would be, what is the appreciation of the people
as to that country ? The only test you can take
in a way is, apart from the very large sum put
into mineral developments, what the people con-
sider the value of the townships sold, because that
is always the judgment of the individual. He
buys a stand because he wishes to erect a store
or building. You cannot term that the specula-
tive action of syndicates. I may tell you that at
the last stand sale in Bulawayo the purchases were
made by people who have since erected stores and
buildings with the intention of remaining and re-
siding in the country. As you are aware, the sales
there realised ,£53,000, and I received in connec-
tion with this matter an interesting telegram last
night A stand which fetched at our sale ,£160
was sold — I suppose yesterday or the day before,
because we are now in complete communication
by the telegraph — for ,£3,050. The value of the
building on it is estimated at ,£1,000, so within
six months, in the estimation of the purchaser, the
stand has risen from ,£160 to ,£2,050, in so far as
the ground value is concerned. That speaks more
than words, and shows the confidence of the
people in the country.

"The next risk with a commercial company
like ours would be the question of the cost of
administration. You might very fairly say, ' We
know that the future is all right. We feel that
so huge a country, mineralised like that, must
come out successfully ; but what is the cost of
administration, what is the difference between
revenue and expenditure ? ' That is the next
question which business men would ask. In
connection with that you will no doubt have
examined the reports, but it is always very
difficult to obtain a practical idea from a report.

HIS SPEECHES. 155

respecting a question like this. I can, however,
tell you from my knowledge about the position.
The revenue now is about .£50,000 per annum
from the country, and the expenditure is about
.£70,000. You must, however, remember that 1
do not include in the revenue of £50,000 the
sale of stands, because I call that capital account.
I mean by revenue, what you receive monthly
from stamps, licences, and the ordinary sources of
revenue which every country possesses. I am
therefore justified in thinking that we need feel
no alarm as to the future about balancing our
expenditure with our revenue, because I would
point out to you, that if with no claim licences—
because we are deriving few or none now — with
no customs, and practically with no hut tax at
present, you almost balance now, I think we may
fairly say that we shall balance in the future, and
earn a sum with which to pay interest on our
debentures. I do not think that is an excessive
proposition to make, and you must remember that
this expenditure covers a force of over two
hundred police. Two years ago, when I toM
you we were balancing in Mashonaland, we had
practically dismissed all our police, as we could
not afford them, but the new position is that with
an expenditure of £70,000 and a revenue of
.£50,000, we are paying for two hundred police,
and really we do not want more expenditure.
We have magistrates in every town, mining
commissioners, and a complete system of govern-
ment. We have a Council, an Administrator, a
Judge, and a Legal Adviser. I cannot therefore
see that we want any more heavy expenditure,
and that is why I have not asked for any increase
of capital.

" From a commercial point of view, the way I

Photograph />y]

\E. II. Mills

Mr. Hays Hammond.

HIS SPEECHES. 157

look at it is somewhat as follows : — We have a
capital of ,£2,000,000 in shares, let that be our
capital ; we have our debentures, as to half of
which we have a liquid asset in the Crown Colony
of British Bechuanaland. What future extra
expenditure can there be ? There can be no more
wars, for there are no more people to make the
wars. As to public buildings, in each of our
towns we have most excellent public buildings,
quite equal to the ordinary buildings in Cape
Colony ; I speak of Bulawayo, Salisbury, Umtali,
and Victoria. As to telegraphs, every town in
the country is connected with the telegraph except-
ing Umtali. As to railway communication, we
have given railway communication in the east from
Beira to Chimoio, through the 'fly,' and one of
the richest portions of the country is only seventy-
five miles from the terminus. We have extended
the Vryburg Railway to Mafeking — that is five
hundred miles from Bulawayo. If the country
warrants further railway communications the
money can be found apart from the Charter.
If the country does not warrant any further
railway extensions, then we had better not build
it. The people must be satisfied as we were in
the past at Kimberley. For years we had to
go six hundred miles by waggon to Kimberley,
and then we went five hundred miles, and later
four hundred miles by the same means, although
the yearly exports were between ,£2,000,000 and
,£3,000,000. When Kimberley justified a rail-
way, a railway was made, and so it will be in
this case. We have maintained our position.
We have a complete administration, and we
have railway facilities which will allow batteries
to be sent in. I do not see, therefore, where
more public expenditure is required. The

158 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

extension of railways will be undertaken when
the country warrants it, apart from the Charter.
When, therefore, I came home, and was spoken
to about the question of an increase of capital,
I, after a careful consideration, thought it would
be an unwise thing to submit to the share-
holders. We are practically paying our way,
and we shall keep our Chartered capital at
,£2,000,000 ; and I cannot see in the future
any reason which would cause us to increase it.
If the country is a failure, we had better not
increase it ; and if the country is a success, it will
not be wanted.

" Now, we have dealt with the question of
what we possess, what it has cost us, and our
present financial position, and you might next
very fairly say, What are the prospects ? Well,
looking at that question, I can only say that I
have been through the country, and from an
agricultural point of view I know it is a place
where white people are going to settle. It is
good agricultural country. As to climate, it is
asked by some whether it is not a fever country.
It is nothing of the kind. It is a high healthy
plateau, and I would as soon live there as in any
part of South Africa. Towards the Portuguese
territory and in some parts of the low country
the climate is unhealthy, and the same applies to
the country just on the Zambesi ; the high
plateau, however, is perfectly healthy. You may
therefore say that you have a country where
white people can live and be born and brought
up, and it is suitable for agriculture ; but of
course the main point we must look to, in so far
as a return to our shareholders is concerned, is
the question of the mineralisation of the country.
I have said once before that out of licences and

HIS SPEECHES. 159

the usual sources of revenue for a Government
you cannot expect to pay dividends. The people
would get annoyed if you did ; they do not like
to see licences spent in dividends — those are
assets which are to pay for any public works and
for good government. We must therefore look
to our minerals to give us a return on our capital,
which you must remember is ,£2,000,000.

" In dealing with that question, I will ask,
\Yhat have you got ? You possess a country about
one thousand two hundred miles by five hundred
which is mineralised, and as regards the efforts
which have at present been made, you have in
connection with the search for minerals forty
thousand claims registered with the Government
of the country. That means two thousand miles
of mineralised quartz, and I would refer you to the
report of Mr. Hammond, who went through the
country with me, and who is the consulting en-
gineer of the Goldfields of South Africa Company.
He was highly pleased with what he saw. There
was a suggestion made that the reefs were not true
fissure veins ; did not go down. He pooh-poohed
that idea. I would refer you to page 35 of the
directors' report, where he alludes to that, and
says : ' Veins of this class are universally noted for
their permanency.' Then if you follow his remarks
on the mineral position, you will find that he says :
' It would be an anomaly in the history of gold-
mining if, upon the hundreds of miles of mineral-
ised veins, valuable ore-shoots should not be
developed as the result of future work.' He
adds : ' There are, I think, substantial grounds
to predict the opening up of shoots of ore from
which an important mining industry will ultimately
be developed.' Then he warns people about the
mode of investing money in the search for minerals,

160 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

and says : ' With these admonitions, I confidently
commend the country to the attention of mining
capitalists.' That is the report of a cautious man
who visited the country and reported on what
he saw.

" You must remember that in the past, in
dealing with our reefs, we have not had men
acquainted with mining. They were chiefly
young fellows who went up and occupied the
country, and who knew as little about mining
as many of you here do. They had no means
of ascertaining, because the mineralisation of that
country is quartz, and not alluvial, and we could
get in no batteries. Still, the past four years
have proved that the whole country is mine-
ralised from end to end, and in reference to the
discoveries made I think I am justified in stating
that such have been the reports of those who
are connected with those discoveries, that nearly
three-quarters of a million sterling has been
subscribed lately for the development of them,
not by puffing prospectuses, but privately by
friends of those who have gone out and made
reports on what they .have discovered. If I
might address a word of warning to you, I would
say we, as directors, are responsible to you for
the Charter as to its capital. Do not go and
discount possibilities as if they were proved
results. I think, however, that with the facts
which I have stated, you may be confident that
in the future Ma'tabeleland and Mashonaland
will be gold - producing countries, because it
would be contrary to Nature to suppose that a
country that is mineralised from end to end
should not have payable shoots. With these
words I will make no further remark as to the
gold, save and except to tell you this, that if

HIS SPEECHES. 161

one of you asks how you will get a return in
connection with that gold, I may state that what
I term the ' patent ' in the country — namely,
the Company getting a share in the vendor
scrip — has been practically accepted by the
country. We have not had the slightest diffi-
culty in settling with the various corporations
who have obtained capital from the public.

" The great objection to the idea was its
newness. It had never been- tried before. It
has now been tried and accepted, and for a very
simple reason. The prospector has found that he
is not eaten up by monthly licences while holding
his claim ; the capitalist, when he goes to purchase,
knows that the Charter has a certain interest, and
pays accordingly ; and as to the public, who
always find the capital for quartz mining, it is a
matter of no importance to them whether Jones
gets all the vendor scrip or whether Jones and the
Government share it together. The public do
not take such a personal interest in Jones that
they require that he should have the whole of the
scrip. They also know that if the Government
receive half of it, it is held until the value of the
mine is proved, whereas if the whole of it was
handed over to Jones, he might part with it to a
confiding public. When, therefore, you are
considering this question commercially you will
say, ' Well, we are dealing with a proposition of
a capital of ,£2,000,000 ; we are dealing with a
country nearly as big as Europe, and we know it
is mineralised. The present tests must be fairly
satisfactory, or else the friends of those who have
gone out and found reefs would not have sub-
scribed three-quarters of a million sterling for
their development. We must always remember
in connection with mining that it is very

162 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

speculative, as I told a friend of mine the
other day — they are always bothering me about
mines — and I said to one of my friends, a French
financier, 'I will give you advice at last.' He was
delighted, and asked what I would advise. I said,
' Either buy French Rentes or Consols.' Then he
went away annoyed. What, however, I desire to
put to you is, that when you go into a mining
venture you go into a speculative venture ; but
as a proposition with a capital of ,£2,000,000, deal-
ing with a country almost as big as Europe, which
is mineralised, and with that subscribed capital for
its development — and as regards its administra-
tion, the revenue paying for the expenditure— it is
a fair business-like proposition. When you con-
sider this comparatively — and that is the great
secret in life — it represents in capital perhaps one
Rand mine. As to the question whether the scrip
proposal has been accepted, we have settled with
all the chief corporations, and as minerals are
found in that territory, you therefore know per-
fectly well that in reference to the share capital
you have an interest in everything that is dis-
covered. I will not say anything more than that
with regard to the mineral question, but I would
repeat again : do not discount possibilities as if
they were proved results.

" Now, gentlemen, I think that on this occa-
sion you cannot accuse me of not dealing with
the commercial aspects of the country. I think
you will admit that I have shown you the size of
it, the cost of it, and the possibilities of it, and if
there is any point I have missed, please tell me.
We have to consider, because we are a Charter,
and are connected with politics, the political
position of the country, and I may say that that
is most satisfactory. We had a good many

HIS SPEECHES. 163

enemies before, and difficulties with the Portu-
guese, with the Transvaal, and with the Matabele.
As you know, the Matabele difficulty has dis-
appeared ; they have incorporated themselves
with us. The difficulties with the Portuguese are
also over. We had different views as to where
our boundaries were situated ; but now I may
say that our relations with them are on the most
friendly footing, and we must always remember,
with reference to the Portuguese, that they were
the original civilisers of Africa. They had the
bad luck, if I may say so, to get only the coast, to
be on the fringe, and never to have penetrated to
the high healthy plateau at the back. Their power
is not what it was ; but we must respect them, and
we must remember that the man who founded the
Portuguese Colonial Empire — that is, Henry the
Navigator — was of our own blood. The other
day, when we were at Delagoa Bay, they had
trouble with the natives, and we offered — Dr.
Jameson and I — to assist them, because the
natives in rebellion were a portion of the tribe of
Gungunhana, to whom we pay tribute, but the
Portuguese declined our assistance, and one cannot
help respecting their national pride. They would
not take help from anyone, and we should do the
same. They were very courteous and thanked
us, but they declined our proffered assistance,
although they knew that we could help them,
because these natives who were troubling them
were receiving tribute from us. In the same
way they refused assistance from the Transvaal
Government, and I believe from two foreign
Powers. With national pride they are settling
their difficulties themselves. It will be our object
to work in perfect co-operation with the Portu-
guese Government and officials.

164 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

" With regard to the Transvaal, our neigh-
bour the President finds that he has quite
enough to do in dealing with his own people.
I have always felt that if I had been in
President Kruger's position I should have
looked upon the Chartered Territory as my
reversion. He must have been exceedingly
disappointed when we went in and occupied it ;
but since then we have co-operated most heartily
with him, and I look to no political difficulty
from the Transvaal. We have received through-
out the complete support of the Cape people,
who, recognising that it was too great an under-
taking for themselves to enter upon, were glad
that we undertook it, and they look upon it as
their Hinterland, as, remember, we shall pass
from the position of chartered administration to
self-government, when the country is occupied by
white people — especially by Englishmen, because
if Englishmen object to anything it is to being
governed by a small oligarchy. They will
govern themselves. We must therefore look to
the future of Charterland — I speak of ten or
twenty years hence — as self-government, and
that self-government very possibly federal with
the Cape Government.

" Then when we think of the political
position, we have also to consider the English
people, and I must say we have received the
very heartiest support from the English public,
with a few exceptions, possibly from ignorance—
(laughter) — and possibly from disappointment-
Daughter) - and I think in many cases from an
utter misconception. I remember whilst coming
home, sitting down on board ship and reading this
from the Daily Chronicle: — •' Not a single un-
employed workman in England is likely to secure

HIS SPEECHES. 165

a week's steady labour as a result of a forward
policy in South Africa.' What is the reply to
that ? I do not reply by a platform address about
' three acres and a cow ' — (laughter) — or with
Socialistic statements as to ' those who have
not, taking from those who have.' I make
the practical reply that we have built 200 miles
of railway, and that the rails have all been
made in England and the locomotives also.
We have constructed 1,300 miles of tele-
graphs, and the poles and wires have all been
made in England. Everything we wear has
been imported from England. And can you tell
me that not a single labourer or unemployed
workman in England is likely to secure a week's
steady labour as a result of that enterprise ? I
can assure you it does them much more good
than telling them about three acres and a cow,
because nothing has ever come out of that yet.
(Laughter.) And as to the Socialistic programme
—well, you know the story of one of the Roth-
schilds, I think, who listened to it all in the train,
and then handed the gentleman who addressed
him a sovereign as his share of the plunder.
(Laughter.) But we have to deal with this
question, and I hope I am not tiring you of it,
because we have to study the feeling of the
English people, and they are most practical. You
must show that it is to their benefit that these
expansions are made, because the man in the
street, if he does not get a share, naturally says :
' And where do I come in ? ' (Laughter.) You
must show them that there is a distinct advantage
to them in these developments abroad. That is
the reason why, when we made a constitution for
this country, I submitted a provision that the
duty on British goods should not exceed the

166 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

present Cape tariff. I should like you to listen to
me on that, if I do not tire you. You must
remember that your ' Little Englander ' says,
and very fairly : ' What is the advantage of all
these expansions ? What are the advantages of
our Colonies ? As soon as we give them self-
government, if we remonstrate with them as to a
law they pass, they tell us they will haul down the
flag ; and on receiving self-government, they imme-
diately devise how they can keep our goods out,
and make bad boots and shoes for themselves.'
It is true that many of our Colonies have found
out the folly of Protection, but they have created
a bogey which they cannot allay, because the
factories have been created, the workmen have
come out there, and they are only kept going by
the high duties ; and a poor Minister who tries to
pass a low tariff knows perfectly well that he will
have his windows broken by an infuriated mob.
The only chance for a colony is to stop these
ideas before they develop, and taking this new
country of ours, I thought it would be a wise
thing to put in the constitution that the tariff
should not exceed the present Cape tariff, which
is a revenue and not a protective tariff. (Cheers.)
The proof of that is that we have not a single
factory in the Cape Colony. I thought if we
made that a part of our constitution in the interior,
-we should stop the creation of vested factories, a
most unfair treatment of British trade, and a most
unjust thing to the people of a new country. You
may not be surprised that that proposition was
refused. It was refused because it was not under-
stood. People thought that there was a proposition
for a preferential system. I may tell you that all
my letters of thanks came from the Protectionists,
-and nothing from the Free Traders, though it was

HIS SPEECHES. 167

really a Free Trade proposition. A proposition
came from Home that I should put in the words
' That the duty on imported goods should not
exceed the present Cape tariff.' I declined to do
that because I thought that in the future, twenty-
five or fifty years hence, you might deal with the
United States as you would with a naughty child,
saying, ' If you will keep on this system of the
McKinley tariff, or an increase of it, we shall shut
your goods out/ in the same way that you go to
war, not because you are pleased with war, but
because you are forced. That is why I wished to
put the words ' British goods,' because actually
England in the future might adopt this policy and
yet have a clause in the constitution of one of her
own colonies which prevented it. (Cheers.) Now
who could object to this ? Certainly not the French
or the German Ambassadors, because so long as
England's policy is to make no difference, they
come in under this clause, the policy of England
being that there should be no preferential right.
Any law passed by us giving a preferential right
would be disallowed. But this clause would have
assisted the German and French manufacturer, so
long as England remains what it is, because they
also would have shared in the privilege of the
duty on imported goods, or British goods not
exceeding 12 per cent. If you follow the idea,
so long as England did not sanction a law making
a difference, we had to make it the same to all.
But this great gain was obtained, that supposing
that the charter passed into self-government, and
a wave of Protection came over the territory, and
they pass, we will say, a duty of 50 per cent, on
British goods, that would be disallowed, because
it was contrary to the constitution. The only
objection that has ever been made to this propo-

168 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

sition is that it would have been law as long as it
was no good, and when it was any good it would
have been done away with. That shows a want
of knowledge again. People think the people in
the colonies are all for Protection. It is nothing
of the kind. They are very sensible people,
and they know that Protection means that
everything you eat and wear costs you 50 per
cent. more. But what does happen is that at
times a wave comes over a country, of Pro-
tection, and it is carried by a small majority.
It then becomes law ; the factories are created
and the human beings come out and they have
to be fed, and therefore you cannot get rid of
them. But in case of a wave coming in the
country under a constitution as suggested, the
Secretary of State would be justified in dis-
allowing. He would say : ' There is a large
minority against this law, and as it is against the
constitution I disallow.' And look at the ramifi-
cations of it. Of course if the gold is in the
quantity in Matabeleland and Mashonaland that
we think, that will become a valuable asset in
Africa, and we know perfectly well there is going
to be a Customs Union of Africa — leave out the
question of republics and the questions of Govern-
ment and the Flag ; but we know the practical
thing will happen, that there will be a Customs
Union in Africa. This clause being in our charter
would have governed the rest of Africa, and there-
fore you would have had preserved to British
goods, Africa as one of your markets. (Cheers.)
Take the comparison of this question, and I will
show you what it means. You have sixty millions
of your people in the United States. You created
that Government ; that is your production, if I
may call it so ; they have adopted this folly of Pro-

HIS SPEECHES. 169

tection— they cannot get rid of it now. What is
your trade with the United States — sixty millions
of your own people ? I will tell you. Your exports
are about ^40,000,000 per annum. Now, in Africa
and Egypt we have only 600,000 whites with us,
and I do not think the natives are very great con-
sumers— but you are up to ^"20,000,000. I will
take Southern Africa. You are doing about
^"15,000,000 with the Cape and Natal, almost
entirely British goods, and about ^4,000,020 with
Egypt, where you have a fair chance for your
goods ; and you are doing ^20,000,000 with those
two small dependencies, as against ^40,000,000
with another creation of yours which has shut your
own goods out and only takes ^40,000,000 from
you. If it had given a fair chance to your trade
you would be doing £\ 50,000,000 with the United
States, to your own advantage and to the advan-
tage of the American people. (Hear, hear, and
cheers.) I can see very clearly that the whole
of your politics lie in your trade, or should do so,
because you are not like France, producing wine —
you are not like the United States, a world by
itself — you are a small province, doing nothing but
making up the raw material into the manufactured
article, and distributing over the world, and your
great policy should be to keep the trade of the
world, and therefore you have done a wise thing
in remaining in Egypt and taking Uganda. You
have to thank the present Prime Minister for that,
and remember this, when it has to be written,
that he has done that against probably the feelings
of the whole of his party, which comprise the
Little Englanders. He has taken Uganda and
retained Egypt, and the retention of Egypt
means the retention of an open market for your
goods. (Hear, hear.) Why, the lesson is so

M 2

170 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

easy ! When I came home to England the first
time, I went up the Thames, and what did I find
they were doing ? — for whom were they making ?
They were making for the world. That was
what they were doing in England ; and when I
went into a factory there was not a man who was
not working for the world. Your trade is the
world, and your life is the world, and that is why
you must deal with those questions of expansion
and of retention of the world. (Hear, hear.) Of
course, Cobdenism was a most beautiful theory,
and it is right that you should look to the whole
world ; but the human beings in the world will
not have that. They will want to make their own
things ; and if they find that England can make
them best they put on these protective duties ;
and if they keep on doing that they will beat you
in the end. It is not ethical discussions about
the House of Lords that you want, or about
three acres and a cow. And you talk nonsense
if you talk about doing away with a Second
Chamber so that a wave of popular feeling could
sweep away your Constitution. Brother Jonathan
does not do that. (Laughter.) It may all end
in strengthening the House of Lords. We all
know that. When you come to the election, and
when you go on your various election committees,
do not give your entire attention to the ethical
question of the House of Lords. When Jones or
Smith at the ensuing election asks you for your
support, tell them — for there is really nothing else
before you in the election — ' We will have this
clause put in about Matabeleland.' Everything
comes from these little things. You do not know
how it will spread, the basis of it being that your
goods shall not be shut out from the markets of
the world. That clause will develop, and will

HIS SPEECHES. 171

spread from Matabeleland to Mashonaland, and
then perhaps Australia and Canada will consider
the question, and you will thus be retaining a
market for your goods. And you have been
actually offered this, and you have refused it.
You will be acting foolishly if you do not in the
forthcoming elections insist upon that clause being
put in. Now, I hope you will not say I have
departed from the commercial aspect and gone to
a political speech ; but I can assure you of this—
I think it will do you and your trade more good
than anything I can conceive. Gentlemen, in all
things it is the little questions that change the
world. This charter came from an accidental
thought, and all the great changes of the world
come from little accidents. All the combinations
and beautiful essays that are put forward so
eagerly are unpractical enough, but this consti-
tution is a more practical thing. I can assure
you there is a very practical thing in it. We
have been accused of being a speculative set of
company-mongers, and nobody could see any
great chance of our ultimate financial success ;
but by your support we have carried it through.
When the man in the street sneers at you, you
can remind him that it was an undertaking he
had not the courage to enter upon himself as one
of the British people ; the Imperial Government
would not touch it ; the Cape Government was
too poor to do it. It has been done by you, and
the enterprise has succeeded, and I do not think
anybody would say they would like to see that
portion of the world under another flag now.
And it has been done, which the English people
like, without expense to their exchequer -
(laughter) — and we have had to combine this
expansion with the commercial or else we should

172 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

not have succeeded. Don't be annoyed with me,
gentlemen. Let us look at the facts. There was
that development of East Africa based, if I might
put it, on the suppression of the slave trade and
the cultivation of the cocoanut-tree. (Laughter.)
Well, I saw Sir William Mackinnon at the end,
and it almost killed him. He got no support
from the public. We are very practical people.
Take my own case. Take that of the trans-
continental telegraph. It will be of great assist-
ance to the Chartered Company, because it will
put our territories at the end of Tanganyika in
touch with us, and yet the bulk of the public
did hot help us. I think the public had really
no grounds to subscribe. But I will take two
corporations I am connected with. Well, one
gave nothing, and with the other an indignant
shareholder wrote to the Board to inquire who
paid for the paper and envelopes of the circular.
(Laughter.) Now, I mention this to show what
an eminently practical people we are. Unless
we had made this undertaking with its com-
mercial difficulties, we should have failed, and
that is the best reply to those who sneer at us
and call us a set of company-mongers. (Cheers.)
We have been fortunate in forming an imagina-
tive conception, and succeeded, and really, if you
look at it, within a period — well, I would say, it
is hardly equal to the term allotted to an Oxford
student. (Laughter.) Commercially, if you
think it out, I think you will go away from this
room — no, I don't think you will go away to sell
your shares, for it is fair business. When you
went into our Company you went into speculative
mining ; it is certainly not Consols or French
Rentes. There are no more claims for fresh
money, and our two millions represent a very

HIS SPEECHES. 173

large interest in all the gold that will be found
practically between Mafeking and Tanganyika in
a highly mineralised country — (cheers) — and,
therefore, if you are satisfied with the commercial,
I really think you might give a help in the
political. I do hope in the ensuing election you
will do your best to see my clause carried, because
you will do by that a really practical thing, and
take the very first practical step that has been
done towards the promotion of the Union of the
Empire." (Loud cheers.)

It is impossible to attempt to summarise the whole of
Mr. Rhodes's speeches here, but it is equally impossible to close
this section without noticing in passing one of the most famous,
and in some respects the most unfortunate of all his speeches,
which he delivered immediately after the relief of Kimberley,
on February igih, 1900. It was in this speech that Mr. Rhodes
made use of the famous phrase so constantly quoted against
him, in which he spoke of the British flag as a " commercial
asset." This much misquoted passage occurs in a speech
addressed to the shareholders of the De Beers Company.
Mr. Rhodes had been using the resources of the De Beers
shareholders without stint in the defence of Kimberley against
the Boers. He was appealing to shareholders, many of whom,
being French and Germans, regarded the whole British policy
in South Africa with unconcealed detestation. His speech
was primarily intended to reconcile them to an employment
of the funds for political purposes to which they objected.
He had also to deal with other shareholders, whose only
concern was their dividends. This is quite clear from the
opening passages of his speech. He said : —

" Shareholders may be divided into two
classes — those who are imaginative and those
who are certainly unimaginative. To the latter
class the fact of our connection with the Char-
tered Company has been for many years past a
great trial. Human beings are very interesting.

174 POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS IDEAS.

There are those of the unimaginative type who
pass their whole lives in filling money-bags, and
when they are called upon, perhaps more hurriedly
than they desire, to retire from this world, what
they leave behind is often dissipated by their
offspring on wine, women and horses. Of these
purely unimaginative gentlemen, whose sole con-
cern is the accumulation of wealth, I have a large
number as my shareholders."

It was to these unimaginative persons, especially to the
foreign shareholders, that he addressed his vindication of the
transformation of a purely commercial company unconnected
with politics, into warriors fighting for the preservation of our
homes and property.

" I have to tell the shareholders in Europe,"
he said, "that we have for the last four months
devoted the energies of our company to the
defence of the town."

After describing what had been done by the citizen soldiers
of Kimberley, he concluded his speech by the following
passage : —

" Finally, I would submit to you this thought,
that when we look back upon the troubles we
have gone through, and especially all that has
been suffered by the women and children, we
have this satisfaction — that we have done our
best to preserve that which is the best com-
mercial asset in the world — the protection of Her
Majesty's flag."

When Mr. Rhodes came back from Kimberley, I had a
talk with him upon this subject. He said that it was very
ridiculous the way people had abused him for the passage
about the flag. If they had considered the circumstances in
which the speech was made, they would have seen the reason
for it.

HfS SPEECHES. 175

" People talked as if I were making a political
speech, or speaking as a politician. I was not.
1 was addressing a meeting of the De Beers
shareholders, half of whom were Frenchmen.
Of course, the number of people present at the
meeting was small, but 1 was addressing the
French shareholders through the press. French
feeling is very strong against England, and
the French shareholders might naturally feel
aggrieved. They had lost an enormous sum of
money from the cessation of industry during the
war. The part which the De Beers Company
had taken in defending Kimberley was another
point upon which, as shareholders, they might
fairly take an exception. In order to parry their
objection and to show to them that, after all, I
was really looking after their business, I finished
up with a declaration that I had been spending
their money in defending what was, after all, the
greatest commercial asset in the world, the pro-
tection of the British flag. It was a perfectly
true thing, and it seemed to me a very useful
thing to say in the circumstances. I was
addressing, not the world at large, but De Beers
shareholders. I had my French shareholders in
my eye all the time."

1 76

Mr. Rhodes's last Portrait.

177

PART III.

THE CLOSING SCENE.

MR. RHODES died at Muizenberg, a small cottage on
the sea-coast near Cape Town, on March 26, 1902.
The result of the post mortem examination showed
that with the exception of the aneurism of the
heart, which caused an immense distension of that
organ, he was in a perfectly healthy state. The
heart trouble had been with him from his youth.
When he attained manhood it abated somewhat,
but after his fortieth year it returned, and gradually
increased until his death, which did not come to
his release until after some weeks of very agonis-
ing suffering. He was conscious to the very last,
and attempted to transact business within a week
of his decease. He was attended constantly by
his old and faithful friend, Dr. Jameson, whose
name was the last articulate word which escaped
from his lips.

All the deep-seated tenderness of his nature,
which led Bramwell Booth to describe him as
having a great human heart hungering for love,
found expression in these last days whenever
he spoke or thought of Dr. Jameson. The affec-
tion which Mr. Rhodes entertained for the Doctor
dated far back in the early days when they were
at Kimberley together, and never varied through
all the vicissitudes of his eventful career. At one
time, when Dr. Jameson was ill and in prison,
bearing the punishment for an enterprise the pre-

178 THE CLOSING SCENE.

cipitation of which was due to incentives from a
much higher than any African quarter, he was
troubled by the maddening fear that Mr. Rhodes
had not forgiven him for the upsetting of his
apple-cart. But Mr. Rhodes was not a man
who wore his heart upon his sleeve. He
schooled himself to repress manifestations of
affection, but an incident for which Lord Grey is my
authority shows how unfounded were Dr. Jame-
son's misgivings. If Mr. Rhodes loved anything
in the world, he loved his house, and Groote
Schuur was the nest which he had built for himself
in the shadow of Table Mountain, which he had
filled with all manner of historic and literary
treasures. When the year 1896 — the year of the
ill-fated Raid — was drawing to a close, Lord Grey,
then Administrator of Rhodesia, received a tele-
gram early in the morning to the effect that
Groote Schuur had been burnt down with most
of its contents. Knowing how intensely Mr.
Rhodes was attached to his home, Lord Grey
shrank from breaking the news to him until they
were alone. He feared that Mr. Rhodes might
lose his self-control. They rode out together that
morning, and not until they were far out in the
country did Lord Grey think of telling the evil
tidings which arrived that morning. As they rode
together Mr. Rhodes began talking of the
misfortunes of the twelve months then drawing
to a close. Nothing but ill-luck had attended him
for the whole course ; he did not think that his
luck could mend, and could only hope that the
new year would dawn without any further disaster.
Lord Grey said to him gently—

" Well, Mr. Rhodes, I am very sorry, but I
am afraid I must give you a rather ugly knock."

Mr. Rhodes reined up his horse, and turning

THE CLOSING SCEXE.

179

to his companion he exclaimed, his face livid,
white and drawn with an agony of dread—

" Good heavens ! Out with it, man
has happened ? "

What

i8o THE CLOSING SCENE.

" Well," said Lord Grey, " I am sorry to tell you
that Groote Schuur was burnt down last night."

The tense look of anguish disappeared from
Rhodes's face. He heaved a great sigh, and
exclaimed with inexpressible relief —

" Oh, thank God, thank God ! I thought
you were going to tell me that Dr. Jim was dead.
The house is burnt down — well, what does that
matter ? We can always rebuild the house, but
if Dr. Jim had died I should never have got
over it."

Only those who knew what Groote Schuur
was to Mr. Rhodes can understand the depth
and fervour of a human attachment which enabled
him to bear the loss of his house not merely with
equanimity but absolute gratitude.

It is a very striking illustration of the practical
value of one of Mr. Rhodes's favourite sayings :—

" Do the comparative. Always do the com-
parative."

By this he meant, whenever you are over-
taken by a misfortune or plunged into dire
tribulation, you can find consolation by reflecting
how much worse things might have been, or how
much greater had been the misery suffered by
others. I well remember Mr. Rhodes telling me
how he had frequently supported himself in the
midst of the most trying crisis of his career,
when everything seemed to be lost. He used
to say—

" When I was inclined to take too tragic a
view of the consequences of apparently imminent
disaster, I used to reflect what the old Roman
Emperors must have felt when (as often
happened) their legions were scattered, and
they fled from a stricken field, knowing that
they had lost the empire of the world. To

THE CLOSING SCENE. 181

such men at such times it must have seemed
as if their world was going to pieces around
them. But after all," he said, " the sun rose
next day, the river flowed between its banks,
and the world went on very much the same
despite it all. And, thinking of this, I used to
go to bed and sleep like a child."

A still more remarkable instance of the
deliberate way in which he practised the maxim
was also told me. When Mr. Rhodes came
home after the Raid he fully expected to be sent
to prison, and amused himself during the voyage
by drawing up a scheme of reading which he
hoped to carry out during the seclusion of the
gaol ; but it was not until after his death that I
heard from Lord Grey how he proposed to nerve
himself for the ordeal of imprisonment.

" Do the comparative ! " Mr. Rhodes said to
Lord Grey one day when they were together in
Rhodesia. " Always do the comparative ! You
will find it a great comfort. For instance, if I
had been sent to gaol after the Raid, I had fully
made up my mind what I would do. I should
have gone down to the Tower before I was
locked up ; I should have gone to the cell in
which poor old Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned
before he was led out to be beheaded ; I should
have gone to the cell and thought of all that
Raleigh suffered in the long years in which he
lay there. And then, afterwards, when I was in
my comfortable cell in Holloway Gaol, I should
have consoled myself every day by thinking, 'After
all, you are not so badly off as poor Sir Walter
Raleigh in that cell of his in the Tower.' '

On another occasion, when he had been made
wretched by the attacks made upon him in the
Cape Parliament for his share in the Raid, when

The Lying-in-State.

The Procession Passing the Memorial Column, Bulawayo.
THE FUNERAL OF MR. RHODES.

THE CLOSING SCENE. 183.

it seemed as if he had lost everything for which
he had striven, and had nothing to look forward
to but punishment and disgrace, he burst into
Lord Grey's room one morning and ex-
claimed —

" Do you know, Grey, I have just been think-
ing that you have never been sufficiently grateful
for having been born an Englishman. Just think
for a moment," he went on, " what it is to have
been born an Englishman in England. Think
how many millions of men there are in this world
to-day who have been born Chinese or Hindus or
Kaffirs ; but you were not born any of these, you
were born an Englishman. And that is not all.
You are just over forty (which was about Rhodes's
own age at that time), and you have a clean,
healthy body. Now think of the odds there are
against anyone having those three things — to be
born an Englishman, to be over forty, and to
have a clean, healthy body. Why, the chances
are enormous against it, and yet you have all
three. What enormous chances there are against
you having drawn all these prizes in the lottery of
life, and yet you never think of them."

"I could have hugged the poor old chap," said
Lord Grey, " for it was so evident that he had
been doing the comparative by way of consoling
himself, and reflecting that in the midst of all his
misfortunes there were some things which no one
could take away from him ; and then he would
burst into my room to pour out his soul to me in
that fashion."

Mr. Rhodes was very much given to musing,
and even talking to himself upon the most serious
subjects. Mr. Rudd told me that in Mr. Rhodes's
early days nothing delighted him more than, when
the day's work was done, to get a friend or two into

1 84 THE CLOSING SCENE.

his tent and discuss questions of philosophy and
theology. Sir Charles Warren has told us how,
when Rhodes was quite a young man, he and
Warren had a long debate over the Thirty-nine
Articles, and differed hopelessly upon the doctrine
of predestination. His favourite author was said
to have been Gibbon, but what served him as a
pocket-Bible was the writings of Marcus Aurelius.
As Gordon never went anywhere without his little
pocket edition of Thomas a Kempis, so Rhodes
never left behind him his pocket edition of Marcus
Aurelius. His copy was dog-eared and scored
with pencil marks, showing how constantly he had
used it. But he never quite attained to the serene
philosophy of the Imperial philosopher. He
shrank from death, not so much from the fear
of anything after death, but because it was the
arrest of activity, the cessation of the strenuous
life which he had always lived. He was ever a
doer. Once an acquaintance had remarked to
him, when he returned from London to South
Africa —

" I suppose you found London Society very
lively?"

To whom Mr. Rhodes replied—

" When I have a big thing on hand I don't
dine out. I do that, and nothing else."

It was this feeling which led him to cling
so passionately to life. From the day when
his heart suddenly gave way, and he fell from
his horse and shattered his shoulder, he felt
that he lived under the sword of Damocles,
and at any moment the hair which suspended
it might break and all would be over. It was
this overmastering passion of energetic vitality
which prompted his despairing cry when he lay on
his death-bed — " So much to do, so little done ! "

THE CLOSING SCEXE. 185

One of the passages which he marked in the
book which lay ever near his hand contained the
reflections which Marcus Aurelius addressed to
those who dreaded the approach of death :—

You have been a citizen of the great world-city. Five
years or fifty, what matters it ? To every man his due as law
allots. Why then protest? No tyrant gives you your
dismissal, no unjust judge, but nature, who gave you the
admission. It is like the praetor discharging some player
whom he has engaged — " But the five acts are not complete ;
I have played but three." Good : life's drama, look you, is
complete in three. The completeness is in his hands who
first authorised your composition, and now your dissolution.
Neither was your work. Serenely take your leave ; serene as
he who gives you the discharge. '

After the siege of Kimberley, in 1900, Mr.
Rhodes told me he thought he had fourteen years
more to live ; and that time seemed to him far
too short to accomplish all that he had in his
mind to do. Few of his friends ventured to
anticipate for him so long a lease of life. The
result proved that their forebodings were only too
well justified. Instead of fourteen years, he lived
barely two.

There is, however, something consoling in the
heroism with which he risked and lost his life at
the end. It is probable that if he had not returned
to South Africa in the last year of his life he
might have lived for several years. His medical
advisers and his most intimate friends were aghast
when he announced his determination to return
to South Africa to give evidence in the case of
Princess Radziwill.

Mr. Rhodes, although unmarried, was singu-
larly free from any scandal about women. As
might be imagined, being a millionaire, a bachelor,
and a man of charming personality, he was abso-

1 86

THE CLOSING SCEXE. 187

lutely hunted by many ladies ; but the pursuit
seemed to inspire him with an almost amusing
horror of ever finding- himself alone with them.
Princess Radziwill was far the most brilliant,
audacious, and highly placed of these huntresses,
and Mr. Rhodes was correspondingly on his
guard against "the old Princess," as he used to
call her. But there is not a word of truth in
the infamous suggestions that have been made
concerning their relations. He regarded her as
a thorough-paced intriguer, with whom he was
determined that his name should never be
associated. Had he not had so much regard
for his reputation he might have been living at
this hour. One of his friends, who knew the
state of his health, implored him to meet her
forged bills rather than expose his life to what,
as the result proved, was a fatal danger. " What
is ,£24,000 to you," said his friend, " compared
with the risk avoided ? " " It's not the money,"
said Mr. Rhodes, " but no risk will prevent me
clearing my character of any stain in connection
with that woman."

"You are sending him to his death," said
Dr. Jameson, as he prepared to accompany his
friend on the last voyage to the Cape. The
passage was exceptionally rough. Mr. Rhodes
was once thrown out of his berth on to the
floor of his cabin. When he arrived in South
Africa it was with the mark of death upon
him. His evidence had to be taken at Groote
Schuur ; but he never showed any sign of
regret that he had responded to the summons
of the Courts. It was his duty, and he did it,
and did it, as the result proved, at the cost of
his life.

So it came to pass that he who had never

1 88 THE CLOSING SCENE.

harmed a woman in his life met his death in
clearing his name from the aspersions of a
woman whom, out of sheer good-heartedness,
he had befriended in time of need.

Despite the difficulty of breathing caused by
the pressure upon his lungs and the agonising
pain from which he suffered, his mind was vigorous
and his interest in all questions relating to South
Africa unabated to the last. Nothing but his
passionate will to live kept him alive. When at
last he was compelled to admit that his end was
approaching, he still clung to the hope that his
life might be prolonged so as to enable him once
more to return to England before he died. He
wished to come home. A cabin was taken for
him on the steamer, but when the hour came it
was impossible to remove him from the room in
which, propped up with pillows, he sat await-
ing the end. Messages from the King and
Queen and from friends all over the world were
cabled to the sick-room at Muizenberg, and those
loving messages of sympathy and affection helped
to console him in the dark hours of anguish.

During the whole of these terrible weeks there
was only one occasion on which he spoke on those
subjects which in the heyday of his youth were
constantly present to his mind. On one occasion,
after a horrible paroxysm of pain had convulsed
him with agony, he was heard, when he regained
his breath and the spasm had passed, to be hold-
ing a strange colloquy with his Maker. The
dying man was talking to God, and not merely
talking to God, but himself assuming both parts
of the dialogue. The attendant in the sick
chamber instinctively recalled those chapters in
the book of Job in which Job and his friends dis-
cussed together the apparent injustice of the

THE CLOSING SCEXE. 189

Governor of the world. It was strange to hear
Mr. Rhodes stating first his case against the
Almighty, and then in reply stating what he con-
sidered his Maker's case against himself. But so
the argument went on.

" What have I done," he asked, " to be tor-
tured thus ? If I must go hence, why should I be
subjected to this insufferable pain ? "

And then he answered his own question,,
going over his own shortcomings and his own
offences, to which he again in his own person
replied ; and so the strange and awful colloquy
went on, until at last the muttering ceased, and
there was silence once more.

Beyond this there is no record of what he
thought or what he felt when he fared forth to
make that pilgrimage which awaits us all through
the valley of the shadow of death. He had far
too intense vitality ever to tolerate the idea of
extinction.

" I'm not an atheist," he once said to me
impatiently ; " not at all. But I don't believe
in the idea about going to heaven and twanging
a harp all day. No. I wish I did sometimes ;
but I don't. That kind of aesthetical idea
pleases you perhaps ; it does not please me.
But I'm not an atheist."

" I find I am human," he wrote on one occa-
sion, " but should like to live after my death."

And in his conversation he frequently referred
to his returning to the earth to see how his
ideas were prospering, and what was being done
with the fortune which he had dedicated to the
service of posterity. Some of his talk upon the
subject of the after-life was very quaint, and
almost child-like in its simplicity. His ideas, so
far as he expressed them to me, always assumed

190 THE CLOSING SCENE.

that he would be able to recognise and con-
verse with those who had gone before, and
that both he and they would have the keenest
interest in the affairs of this planet. This planet,
in some of his moods, seemed too small a sphere
for his exhaustless energy.

" The world," he said to me on one occasion,
" is nearly all parcelled out, and what there is
left of it is being divided up, conquered, and
colonised. To think of these stars," he said,
41 that you see overhead at night, these vast
worlds which we can never reach. I would
annex the planets if I could ; I often think of that.
It makes me sad to see them so clear and yet
so far."

Since Alexander died at Babylon, sighing for
fresh worlds to conquer, has there ever been such
a cry from the heart of mortal man ?

When the end was imminent, his brother was
brought to the bedside. He recognised him, and
clasped his hand. Then releasing his grasp, the
dying man stretched his feeble hand to the
Doctor, and murmuring " Jameson ! " the greatest
of Africanders was dead.

After death his features regained that classic
severity of outline which was so marked in the
days before they had been disfigured by the
malady to which he succumbed. After lying in
state at Groote Schuur, the funeral service was
held in the Cathedral at Cape Town, and then,
in accordance with the provisions of his will, his
remains were taken northward to the Matoppos,
where, near the great African chief Umsilikatse,
he was laid to rest in the mountain-top which
he had named "The View of the World."
Seldom has there been a more imposing and
yet more simple procession to the tomb. For

192 THE CLOSING SCENE.

750 miles on that northward journey the progress
of the funeral train was accompanied by all the
outward and visible signs of mourning which as
a rule are only to be witnessed on the burial days
of kings. At every blockhouse which guarded
the line the troops turned out to salute the silent
dead to whose resistless energy was due the
line over which they stood on guard. When
Bulawayo was reached, the whole city was in
mourning. But a few years before it had been
the kraal of Lobengula, one of the last lairs
of African savagery. Only the previous year a
memorial service had been held there in honour
of President McKinley, and now the citizens were
summoned to a still more mournful service With
an energy worthy of the founder of their State, a
road was constructed from Bulawayo to the
summit of the Matoppos. Along this, followed
by the whole population, the body of Mr. Rhodes
was drawn to his last resting-place. The coffin
was lowered into the tomb, the mourners, white
and black, filed past the grave, and then a huge
block of granite, weighing over three tons, sealed
the mouth of the sepulchre from all mortal eyes.
There, on the Matoppos, lies the body of Cecil
Rhodes ; but who can say what far regions of the
earth have not felt, and will not hereafter feel, a
thrill and inspiration of the mind \vhich for less
than fifty years sojourned in that tabernacle of
clay ?

193

INDEX.

Africa, East, Company based on suppression of slave trade and cultivation of cocoa-
nut, 172
Africa

luture, 10 DC aominaiea oy r>ruisn gooas clause in K.noaesian constitution.
Afrikander Bond : C. J. Rhodes a supporter of, 144 ; speech in defence cf, 144-5
America, North. See United States
America, South, Republics of, to be controlled by Anglo-Saxons, 74
American scholarships, why given, 27 ; how to be awarded, 35 ; character of students at

Oxford, 31, 35

Aristotle, influence of, on C. J. Rhodes, 84, 98
Athletics insisted on by C. J. Rhodes, 36

Australia, South, scholarships for, 32 ; Western, scholarships for, 32
Australasia, twenty-one scholarships for, 32 ; representation in Parliament desired for,

124-5

Baker, Herbert, on artistic sense of C. J. Rhodes, 16

Bechuanaland : C. J. Rhodes opposed to Rev. T. Mackenzie, 80, 145 : defends his

policy in the Times, 1885, 138 ; proposal to exclude Dutch from, condemned, 147 ;

Chartered Company's land in, 153
Beers. See De Beers

Beit, Alfred, joint heir, 49, 108 ; portrait of, 65
Bermudas, three scholarships for, 32

Black, W. (i., on German veto on English in Heligoland, 36
Bond. See Afrikander

Booth, General, interviews with C. J. Rhodes, 89 ; W. Bramwell, impressions, 91-3, 177
Boyd, Charles, portrait of, 123 : " C. B." letter in Spectator, 130
Btilawayo, park for, 7 ; railway to Westacre, 9 ; value of land in, 1895, 154 : funeral

procession passing through, 182, 192

Cambridge, scholarships not to be tenable at, 108

Campbell-Bannerman, Sir Henry, 131

Canada, six scholarships for, 32

Cape Colony, twelve scholarships for, 32 : the first Rhodes scholars from, 20

Cape Colony, C. J. Rhodes's desire to secure Bechuanaland for, 80, 138 ; devotion to its

paramountcy, 145, 148
Chamberlain, Joseph, screened by C. J. Rhodes about Jameson Conspiracy, 107, 178 ; and

devolution quoted by C. J. Rhodes, 124 ; screened by South African Commute.;,

130
Charter, the British South African, not thought of when subscription given to C. S.

Parnell. 120
Chartered Company : Address to shareholders. 1895, 149-173 ; financial position in 1895,

153-162: the justification and necessity for, 171
Christ Church, Oxford, Bursar of, on ^300 scholarships, 30
Codicils to will of C. J. Rhodes, Dalham Hall, 45 ; German scholarships, 35 ; Lord

Milner, 49 ; \V. T. Stead. 49 : Dr. Jameson, 49
Cole, Tennyson, portrait of C. J. Rhodes, 26 ; of Lord Milner, 57
Colonial Secretary heir to C. J. Rhodes in first will, 61 ; why dropped, 62
Colonial self-government defined by C. J. Rhodes ; practically independent Republics,

143 ; protected but not controlled by Downing Street, 145
Colonies, direct representation in Parliament advocated by C. J. Rhodes, 117, 124-5 '•

suggested financial basis of representation, 125 ; accepted by Mr. Parnell, 126.

See Federation
Colonies, scholarships for, 23 : list of Colonies included, 32 : list cf Colonies omitted, 33 -,

character of students from, 31 : first idea of founding, 105
Country landlords " the strength of England," 46
Crown Colony objected to by C. J. Rhodes, 144-9
Customs union of South Africa anticipated by C. J. Rhodes, 168

194 INDEX.

Dalham Hall Estate, left to Colonel and Captain Rhodes, 45

Palston, Rhodes family property in, 117

Darwin, influence of, on C. J. Rhodes, 88, 95

De Beers Company, address to shareholders of, in 1900, 173-4 : resources of, used to

defend Kimberley, 174-5 : shareholders unimaginative, 173 : and French, 175
Dutch goodwill essential to British Empire in South Africa, in, 113 ; must not be

trampled on, 113 ; compared to Irish Nationalists by C. J. Rhodes, 122 ; loyalty to

Empire of, 122, 144-8; native policy of, approved by C. J. Rhodes, 148; C. J.

Rhodes hardly knew how to choose between Dutch and British, 145. See

Afrikander Bond

Edinburgh Medical School, 24

Egypt : C. J. Rhodes subscribes ,£5,000 to Liberal fund on understanding " no
evacuation," 132 ; endangered by Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Morley, 132, 133-4 :
saved by Lord Roseberv, 132, 169

Empire, retention of unity of British, 23 ; furtherance of, 501 ; C. J. Rhodes opposes sever-
ance of, 61, 62 ; disintegration hated, 135 ; its meaning to C. J. Rhodes, 140, 143

Encumbered estates, evil of, 46

English people first race in the world, 58 ; increase of their numbers desired, 58 ; do not
know their greatness, 68 ; waste their energies on local matters, 68 : a conservative
people, 124 ; a very practical people, like expansion for practical business, 150,
165 ; will govern themselves, 164 : eminently practical, 172

*' English-speaking Men, To all," Manifesto in REVIEW OF REVIEWS, 95-102

English-speaking peoples, union of, C. J. Rhodes on, 27, 59, 61, 66, 73, 76

Executors of last will, 49

Exeter Hall, C. J. Rhodes's first and last visit to, 82 ; opposed to its native policy, 148

Expansion, effect of, on number of English in the world, 58 ; British industry, 165 ;
secure open markets, 166-171

Federation indispensable, 61, 73. 74, 118 ; C. J. Rhodes's devotion to, 118 : C. J. Rhodes's
ideas on, 124 ; Mr. Parnell's assent to, 126 ; in South Africa, 143

Financial " patent" of C. J. Rhodes in Rhodesia, 50 per cent, on gold, 161

Flag, devotion of C. J. Rhodes to, 145 ; but would accept Stars and Stripes, 62, 102 ;
sympathises with Kruger's devotion to Vierkleur, 143

Fort, Seymour, describes Inyanga, 9

Free Trade, C. J. Rhodes on, 66, 73, 76, 166-9

<jarrett, F. E., describes Groote Schuur, n ; portrait of, no; his authority invoked by
C. J. Rhodes, 109

Germany, fifteen scholarships for, 35 ; approved by Kaiser, 36

•Gladstone, Mr., his Home Rule Bill disliked by C. J. Rhodes, 121, 131-2 ; objects to
retention of Irish members, 118 ; concedes their retention, 129 : but insists on
reduction, 129 ; Newcastle speech on Egypt alarms C. J. Rhodes, 132 ; regarded by
C. J. Rhodes as the Liberal Party, 132 ; worked on by J. Morley, 136 ; ignorant
of C. J. Rhodes's views on Egypt, 135

God, on the existence of, 89, 189; on His will towards us, 89; C. J. Rhodes's medita-
tions on, 89 and onwards ; deathbed colloquy of C. J. Rhodes, 188-9

Gordon, Gen., and C. J. Rhodes, 80, 142

Grey, Earl, joint heir, 49, 108 ; portrait of, 60 ; anecdotes of C. J. Rhodes, 178-183

Greswell, Rev. W., letter of, 29

•Groote Schuur, view from hill behind, 10 ; bequeathed to public as residence of First
Federal Premier, 13; described by F. E. Garrett, n ; approach to, 12; the
dining-room, 14; the drawing-room, 15; fund for maintenance of, 17; the hall,
18 ; the library, 18 ; the billiard-room, 19 ; the panelled room, 19 ; marble bath-
room, 25 ; Mr. Rhodes's bedroom, 25 ; summer-house at, 37

Hague, 'Peace Conference at, 109

Hammond, John Hays, portrait of, 156 : report on Rhodesia, 159

Harris, Dr. Rutherfoord, portrait of, 146

Harrison, President, dimly discerns American expansion, 74

Hawksley, B. F., discusses qualifications for scholarships, 38-44 : portrait of, 41 ; joint

heir of residue, 49 ; why made joint heir in 1892, 104; letter from, concerning W. T.

Stead, in

Heirs 'joint) under last will, 49
Heligoland, teaching of English forbidden, 36
Hofmeyr, Jan H., grave of, 17

Home Rule, the key to Empire, 74, 113, 114, 118 ; C. J. Rhodes's correspondence with
' C. S. Parnell, 118-130

Imagination, C. J. Rhodes on the lack of, 173-4
Inyanga, view of farm at, 8 ; fund how to be applied, 9-11

Ireland: C. J. Rhodes subscribes to national fund, 118-130; to convert Home Rule Bill
into Federalism, 120 ; Cape experience as a guide, 122

INDEX. 195

Jamaica, three scholarships for, 32

Jameson, Dr., trustee, 49 ; portrait of, 75, 123 ; beloved by C. J. Rhodes, 177 : his name

last word uttered by C. J. Rhodes, 190
Jameson Raid, the, and C. J. Rhodes, 106-107, 130, 178
Johnston, Sir H. H., portrait of, 129

Kimberley."kBath "(described, 16 ; 600 miles by waggon to, 157; siege of, 173-5

Landlords, country, C. J. Rhodes on, 46

Liberal Party, C. J. Rhodes's relations to, 1 17-138 ; thinks of standing as Liberal candidate

in 1886, 117; subscribes to Home Rule, 120-130; to Liberal Election Fund, 130-9;

" My ideas — Liberalism plus Empire," 131 ; ruining itself by Little Englandism, 131 ;

future of England must be Liberal, 133
Life " three days at the seaside," 88 ; work, the essence of a proper, 45 ; speculations.

by;C. J. Rhodes on a future, 189

Lindsay, Rev. Dr., suggests voting for scholarships, 109
" Loafer," a, hated by C. J. Rhodes, 45

Low, Sidney, his summary of C. J. Rhodes's conversations, 73
Loxley, Rev. A. P., on C. J. Rhodes and religious education, 94
Loyola, Ignatius, and C. J. Rhodes, 63, 66, 83

Mackenzie, Rev. John, opposed to policy of C. J. Rhodes, So

" Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon," Rhodes upon, 81

Malima river feeds Westacre dam, 7

" Malindidzimo," name of C. J. Rhodes's burial place, 4

Manicaland, C. J. Rhodes's estate in, 9

Marcus Aurelius constantly read by C. J. Rhodes, 184-185

Markets, open, essential to England, 66, 68, 73, 134, 165-168

Matabele War, C. J. Rhodes's defence of, 150

Matoppos, picture of, 2 ; description of, 4 ; burial place of C. J. Rhodes and L'mzilikazi,
4 ; fund for maintaining, 5 ; visited by C. J. Rhodes and Mr. Wyndham, 5 ; exca-
vating grave on, 186

McNeil!, Swift, arranges C. J. Rhodes's subscription to Irish National Fund, 118, 120

Michell, Lewis L., joint heir, 49, 108 : portrait of, 67

Military service insisted on by C. J. Rhodes, 47

Mills, Sir Charles, brings C. J. Rhodes and W. T. Stead together, 80-81

Milner, Lord, joint heir, 49, 108 ; portrait of, 57 ; supported by C. J. Rhodes. 108-109

Mitford, Bertram, description of Matoppos, 4

Moral qualities, to be regarded in selecting scholars, 36-44

Morley,John : speech about Egypt horrifies C. J. Rhodes, 133 ; importance of, minimised
by F. Schnadhorst, 136

" Mosterts" property bequeathed with Groote Schuur, 13

Muizenberg, near Cape Town, where C. J. Rhodes died, 179

Muller, Iwan, reports to C. J. Rhodes on new University education, 23 ; on country
gentlemen, 46

Napoleon and his dirty linen, 74 ; C. J. Rhodes on his dream of Universal Monarchy,

Natal, three scholarships for, 32

Native policy of C. J. Rhodes in Africa: " We must be lords over them," 149
Newfoundland, three scholarships for, 32
New South Wales, three scholarships for, 32
New Zealand, three scholarships for, 32
Nyassaland, cost of administration borne by Chartered Company for four years, 151

Ontario, three scholarships for, 32

Oriel College, Oxford, C. J. Rhodes, M.A., 1881, 20 ; history of, 20 ; Sir W. Raleigh at,.
20 ; other Oriel men, 21, 30 ; income of, 20 ; bequests to, 20-21 ; and St. Mary Hall,
21 ; views of a senior member of, 22 ; story of Keble when don of, 22 ; view

Oxford, scholarships to bs tenable at, 23, 108 ; why, 23-24 ; Medical School, 27

fall Mall Gazette, C. J. Rhodes and, 79 ; exponent of his ideas, 80-81

Parnell, C. S., correspondence between, and C. J. Rhodes, 120-130; subscription to, 125 ;

regrets and withdraws Navan speech, 129
" Patent," C. J. Rhodes's political, 68 : financial, 161
Peace, C. J. Rhodes's idea of how it might be attained, 59, 61, 66 ; Conference at Hague,

108-109

Persia, part of Anglo-Saxon sphere, 74
Pickering, N. E., heir to C. J. Rhodes in second will, 62
Portugal to come under Anglo-Saxon control, 74
Portuguese, C. J. Rhodes speaks well of, 163

196

INDEX.

Preferential tariff strongly advocated by C. J. Rhodes, 63, 66

Protection, hard fight, 66; C. J. Rhodes's speech against, 166-171; why Colonies
approve, 168 ; his safeguard against, 167

Quebec, three scholarships for, 32
Queensland, three scholarships for, 32

Radziwill, Princess, forgeries of, 185

Raleigh, Sir W., at Oriel, 20 ; C. J. Rhodes on his imprisonment, 181
Reincarnation, C. J. Rhodes indifferent to, 88

Republics — British self-governing Colonies practically independent, 143
Residue of the Rhodes estate left to joint-heirs, 49
REVIEW OF REVIEWS founded in 1890, approved by C. J. Rhodes, 99
Rhodes, Captain Ernest, heir of Dalham Hall, 45
Rhodes, Colonel Frank, heir of Dalham Hall, 45
Rhodes, Cecil John :

Anecdotes of: Places Zimbabye stone hawk in Council Chamber, 16 ; tried to visit
W. T. Stead in gaol, 81 ; attends indignation meeting in Exeter Hall, 81 ; and
General Gordon, 142 ; on hearing of the burning of Groote Schuur, 180 ; Lord
Grey's stories of, 181

Appreciations of: by F. E. Garrett, n ; Herbert Baker, 16 ; W. T. Stead, 51 ; " Money
King of Modern World," 55 ; a mystic, 56 ; W. T. Stead's first impressions of, 82 ;
Roman Emperor plus Ironside plus Loyola, 83; "A Grey Archangel," 139; by
the Booths, 89-93, J77 '• Sir C. Warren, 117
Autograph of, 69, 116

Burial of, on Matoppos, 2, 182, 186, 190, 192
Characteristics of: "I find I am still human,'

scanaai, 105-7.
Conversations with Iwan Mi'iller, 23, 46 ; Sidney Low, 73 ; W. T. Stead, 79-115, 190;

with Gen. Gordon, 142
Correspondence of, with W. T. Stead, 64, 98, 99, 135 ; in the Times, 1885, 138 ; with

Mr. Parnell, 120-130 ; with Mr. Schnadhorst, 130-7

Death of, at Muizenberg, March 26, 1902, 177 ; how precipitated, 187 ; his last word, 190
Personal history of: 1881, M.A., Oxford, 20; draws up draft of ideas, 1877, 58 ; first

tales on object of life, 58, 85 ; dreams of entering Parliament, 117 ; visits Salvation
Army, 89-93 ; conceives idea of scholarships, 105 ; Jameson Raid, 106 ; supports
Milner, 108 ; as youngster learns that truth and no race distinctions axioms of
Empire, 147
Political ideas of: his ideal, 56 ; first draft of, 1877, 58 : English first of races, 58 ; its

reunion, 102 ; on secret society and obedience, 109 ; on Dutch in South

134 ; what Empire meant to him, 140 ; his own definition, 143 ; on the flag, 143 ; hi

inture 01 r-ngianu must oe L,ioerai, pernaps to ngni socialism, 133

Political Will and Testament of C. J. Rhodes, 1891, addressed to W. T. Stead, 64 ;
key to his ideas, Jesuit organisation, differential tariff and American Constitution,
64 ; English greatest race, but unaware of its greatness, 68 ; English labour
dependent on outside markets, 68 ; to end all war and make one language uni-
versal, gradually absorb all wealth and higher minds to object, 68 ; Anglo-Ameri-
can reunion, 73 ; Federal Parliament, sitting five years Washington, five years

;raits of: Downey s, 3 ; by Tennyson Cole, 26 ; by Marchioness of Granby, 50 ; in
the " Eighties," 54 ; as a boy, 78 : autograph portrait, 116 ; in the Matoppos, 138 ;

at the Cape, 141 ; last taken in 1901, 176

INDEX. 197

Rhodes, Cecil John — continued.

Religious ideas of: ideal of Secular Church -for extension of British Empire, 59: a
political Society of Jesus, 63 ; Agnostic, 84 ; on the Bible, 84 ; on broadening
influence of travel and Nature, 86 : on church-going, 86 ; on churches, 88 ; a
Darwinian, 88; on life and death, 88; is there a God? 88 ; what does He want
me to do? 89; testimony of the Booths, 89-93; Divine area of action, 94; Divine
method, 94 ; Divine instrument, 95 ; Divine ideal, 96 ; his threefold test, 97 ;
his conclusion, 98 : his policy as to education, 94 ; his idea in essence, 98 : fond
of theological discussion, 184; and Marcus Aurelius, 184 : "This one thing I do,"
184 ; his colloquy with the Infinite, 188-9 : not an atheist, 189 ; on the future life, 189
Sayings of: on Matoppos, " Homes — that is what I work for," 5 ; on university educa-
tion, 23 ; on " smug," " brutality," and " unctuous rectitude," 44 ; on loafers, 45 ; the
essence of a proper life, 45 ; on country landlords, 46 ; " Do you ever feel mad?"
etc. " I do, at pig-headed statesmen of George III.," 59; " Leave the local pump
to the parish beadle," 74 ; " Don't despise money," 83 ; " Life — three days at the
seaside," 88 ; a fifty-per-cent. chance there is a God, 89 ; "I am trying to make
new countries — you are trying to make new men," 93 ; Justice, Liberty, Peace, the
highest things, 97 ; " You cannot govern South Africa by trampling on the
Dutch," 113 ; Gladstonian Home Rule makes Ireland a taxed republic, 118 ; " My
idea — Liberalism fius Empire," 131 ; " No use to have big ideas without
cash," 142 ; " The whole of your politics lie in your trade," 169 ; " Your trade is
the world and your life is the world," 170 ; East Africa based on the suppression of
slave trade and cultivation of cocoanut, 172 ; ".The best commercial asset in the
world," 174-5: "Always do the comparative!" 181 : "So much to do, so little
done," 184 ; " I would annex the planets if I could," 190

Speeches of: at laying foundation stone Presbyterian Chapel. 86 ; at Salvation Army
meeting at Mansion House, 90-1 ; at prize-giving at Bulawayo school, 94 ; pub-
lished by Chapman and Hall, 1900, 139 ; on United States of South Africa, 1883,
142 ; on the Flag question, 1890, 143, 173 ; on the Afrikander Bond, 1891, 144 ;
on the Dutch, 145, 147 ; against race distinctions, 147 ; against Crown Colony, 148 ;
on native legislation, 1888, 148 ; address to the shareholders of the Chartered Com-
pany, 1895, 149-175 ; on the British flag as a commercial asset, 173-5
Wills : first of Cecil J. Rhodes's, 1877, 61 ; second, 1882, 62 : third, 1888, 62 ; fourth,

1891, 64 ; fifth, 1893, 104 ; sixth and last, 1899, 3 ; why altered, 103-4
Will, last, and Testament of: domicile declared in Rhodesia, 3 ; burial place in the
Matoppos (q.v.), why chosen, 3 ; inscription on tomb, 4 ; the Shangani monument,
4 ; conditions for future burials, 5 ; fund for beautifying burial place, 7 ; bequeaths
Bulawayo and Inyanga estates for instruction of people, 5 ; forms Matoppos and
Bulawayo fund for burial place, 7 ; provides for planting Sauerdale (q.v. Park, 7 ;
for completing Westacre .q.v. dam, 7-9 ; for constructing railway to Westacre for
week-enders, 9 ; founds Inyanga q.v.) fund, 9; for irrigation, u ; for experimental
farming, forestry, gardening, and Agricultural College, n ; leaves Groote Schuur
.q.v.} as residence for Prime Minister of federated South Africa, 13 ; till then as
park for people, 16 ; founds Groote Schuur fund, 17 ; bequeaths ^100,000 to Oriel
(q.v.. College, Oxford, 20 ; for new buildings, 21 ; for resident fellowships, 21 ;
for the High Table, 22 ; directions to trustees, 23 ; founds scholarships at Oxford,
23 ; suggests extension of medical school, 24; states his object as union of English-
speaking race, 24 ; the sixty Colonial scholarships, 32 ; one hundred American
scholarships, 33 ; fifteen German scholarships, 35 ; rules for selecting scholars, 36 ;
apportionment of marks, 38; conditions of lesidence, 40; of payment, 43; of
distribution, 43 ; of discipline, 44 ; annual dinner, 44 ; settles Dalham Hall estate
on Col. F. Rhodes and Capt. Ernest Rhodes, 45 ; conditions in the codicil, 45 ;
no incumbrances to be created, 45-6 ; ten years' work, 47 ; service in Militia or
Volunteers, 47; forfeiture of title, 47 ; leaves residue (q.v.) of estate to joint tenants
who are also named executors and trustees, 49

Rhodesia, nine scholarships for, 32 ; called after C. J. Rhodes, 68 ; its extent north of
the Zambesi, 150; Matabele and Mashonaland, 151; extent of, 152; material
development of, 154, 157 ; cost of administering in 1895, 154-5 : railway making
to, 157 ; a white man's country, 158 ; profits of, from minerals, 159 ; Hays
Hammond, report on, 159

Rosebery, Earl of, joint heir of residue, 49, 108 ; quoted by C. J. Rhodes in favour of
reduction of Irish Members, 121 ; saves Egypt by joining Gladstone's Ministry, 132 ;
saves Uganda and Egypt, 169

Rudd, C. E., portrait of, 119

Salvation Army, C. J. Rhodes on, 90-93

Sauerdale property to be planted as park, 7

Schnadhorst, F., Liberal Whip, correspondence with, 130-7 ; meets C. J. Rhodes in

Africa, 131 ; asks for subscription to Liberal fund, 131 ; .£5,000 given on conditions,

133 ; his defence, 136-7
Scholarships, first founded by C. J. Rhodes, for Rondebosch College, 29 ; in his last will,

60 were founded for Colonies, 30-1 ; 100 for United States, 34 ; 15'for Germany, 35 ;

how to be selected, 36 ; allotment of marks, 38 ; discussion on, 38-44 ; annual

dinner, 44-5, 52 ; first idea of, 105

198

INDEX.

Secret Society, C. J. Rhodes's first suggestion of, 5 ) ; the key to his idea, 64, 66 ; to absorb
the wealth of the world, 73 ; success anticipated in 200 years, 76 ; his idea in
essence, 98 ; difficulty of obedience, 109 ; prospects of, 114

Shangani, monument to those who fell at, 4 : bas-reliefs, 28

Shippard, Sidney G. A., the first of C. J. Rhodes's heirs, 61

Socialism, England must be Liberal, perh-ips to light, 133

South African College School, three scholarships for, 32

Spain to be controlled by Anglo-Saxons, 74

Spectator, absurd misconception about the Schnadhorst subscription, 130

St. Andrew's College School, Cape Colony, three scholarships for, 32

Stellenbosch College School, three scholarships for, 32

Stead, \V. T., discusses with C. J. Rhodes qualifications for scholarship, 38-43, 103;
portrait of, 42 ; joint heir of residue, 49 ; name ren.ovjd from executors, 49, in ;
appreciations of C. J. Rhodes, 51-56, 81, 83, 139; custodian of first will of C. J.
Rhodes, 61 ; left heir with "X" in a fourth will (1891^,64, 104; entrusted with
political will and testament, 64; on the Rhodesian ideal, 77; confidential con-
versation with, 79 ; oiigin of friendship, 79 ; his Gospel of the I'.HI.G., 79 : first
meets C. J. Rhodes ,1889 , 79: through Sir C. Mills, 81 ; first impressions, 81-2 ;
C. J. Rhodes attracted by the imprisonment of, 82 ; conversation with C. J.
Rhodes published in 1899, 83-98 : letter of, to C. J. Rhodes, 98 : letters to, from
C. J. Rhodes, 64, 99: founds the REVIEW OF REVIEWS, 99 ; Manifesto "To all
English-speaking Peoples," 93-102 ; approved by C. J. Rhodes, 99 ; " Our Ideas,"
102 ; commissioned to communicate C. J. Rhodes's secret to the others, 103 ;
joint heir in fifth will with " X" and B. F. Hawksley, 104; discusses with C. J.
Rhodes methods of propaganda, 104 ; told about the scholarships, 105 : action
in re Jameson Raid, 107; last interview with C. J. Rhodes before the war, 107;
made joint heir in last will, 108 ; suggests American scholarships, 108 ; other
suggestions rejected, 103 : his responsibility from 1891-9, 103 : first interview with
C. J. Rhodes after war broke out, 103: "insubordination" of, 109; his defence,
in : B. F. Hawksley on, in ; friendship unimpaired, 112; last interviews with
C. J. Rhodes, 112-13; on the secret societ3r, II4~15 ; forwards letter from C. J.
Rhodes to F. Schnadhorst, 135

Stevenson, Mr., of Exeter College, on American and Colonial students, 31, 35

Tariff war advocated by C. J.i Rhodes, 66, 73, 76, 167

Tasmania, three scholarships for, 32

Transvaal, C. J. Rhodes's sympathy with flag, 143 : " I look to no political difficulty

from the" (1895', 164 ; ultimatum unexpected by C. J. Rhodes, 108
Trustees under last will, 49
Tweed, Jno., sculptor of Shangani monument, 4

Uganda saved by Lord Rosebery, i6j

Umzilikazi, chief of Matabele, buried in Matoppos, 4

United States, scholarships for, 27; why granted, 27 ; C. J. Rhodes on "recovery of,"
59 ; on the loss of, 59 ; restoration of Anglo-Saxon unity, 61 ; w idening of his views
on, 62 ; constitution of his text-book, 63-66 : boycotts English goods, 66 : commer-
cial war with, 66, 76 ; fascinated with idea of world-wide dominion, 74; McKinley
tariff, 76 ; C. J. Rhodes's ideas on, broadened, 62, 102 ; takes precautions for
future tariff war with, 167; tariff cripples English trade, 169

University education, why esteemed by C. J. Rhodes, 23 ; must be residential, 24

Victoria, three scholarships for, 32

" View, the, of the World," 2

" Vindex" edits C. J. Rhodes's speeches, 120, 139

War, how to end all, C. J. Rhodes's " patent," 59, 61, 66 ; South African, C. J. Rhodes
did not anticipate, 108

Warren, Sir Charles, on C. J. Rhodes, 1884, 117

Wealth, C. J. Rhodes's use of, 51 ; millionaires and their money, 66, 73 ; the seizure
of the world's, 76 ; " Don't despise money," 83 ; acquisition of, not good enough,
85 ; his subscription to Mr. Parnell, 120-130 ; secures conversion of Home Rule from
separation to federation, 120 ; not due to anxiety for Charter, 120; subscription to
Mr. Schnadhorst, 131-138; indispensable to big ideas, 142; without imagination,
173-4

Westacre dam and park, 7

Western Australia, three scholarships for, 32

Will, the so-called political will and testament, 1891, 64-76

Women, C. J. Rhodes refuses to admit them to his scholarships, 108-9

Work essential to proper life, 45

Wyndham, George, reports saying of C. J. Rhodes, 5

" X" heir to C. J. Rhodes in third, fourth and fifth will, 62 ; why not left sole heir, 103

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Full text of "The last will and testament of Cecil John Rhodes : with elucidatory notes to which are added some chapters describing the political and religious ideas of the testator"

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